Alabama Victory Ships in World War II

I seem to be doing a series on this blog about ships with names connected in some way to Alabama. This post fits that group. In previous items I've discussed the 1898 USS Alabama battleship, the USS Birmingham and early flight, the effort to save the World War II USS Alabama battleship, and the SS Selma, a concrete ship. This time let's look at Victory ships named for Alabama cities. 

During World War II various United States shipyards produced 531 ships of the Victory class, cargo ships that were an improved design over the older Liberty class. Five types were constructed across two main categories; 414 were standard cargo ships and 117 were attack transports. You can find a list of the ships here and by building shipyard here.  

Many of the Victory ships were named after U.S. cities. In my research I discovered seven vessels named after Alabama locations. As you'll see I found little information on four and more on three of them. I've included the shipyards where they were built.


SS Anniston Victory Permanente Metals, Richmond, California delivered Feb 21, 1945

SS Bessemer Victory California Shipbuilding Corporation, Los Angeles delivered Aug 30, 1945. Had some commercial service in Vietnam, remained in the National Defense Reserve Fleet and berthed on the James River in Virginia until sold in the late 1980's and finally scrapped in India in 1991

SS Dothan Victory Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation, Portland, delivered Nov 7, 1945

SS Eufaula Victory Bethlehem Steel, Baltimore, delivered Dec 12, 1944

SS Selma Victory California Shipbuilding Corporation, Los Angeles, delivered July 29, 1944

USS Talladega Permanente Metals, Richmond, California, delivered Oct 31, 1944. The Talladega was the only attack transport I found among the Victory ships with Alabama connections. The vessel worked various areas of the Pacific during the war, including the Battle of Iwo Jima. Here's the details on that from the Wikipedia entry:

Talladega sortied from Saipan as a unit of Task Group 56.2, the Assault Group, on 16 February, and arrived off Iwo Jima on the morning of 19 February, "D-day".^[4] Four Marines pictured in Joe Rosenthal's famous flag-raising photograph debarked from Talladega to climb Mt. Suribachi on Iwo Jima: Ira Hayes, Franklin Sousley, Harlon Block, and Mike Strank.^[2] After landing her troops, she remained off the beaches embarking combat casualties for six days before heading back toward Saipan.^[4]

His Wikipedia entry notes this information about Hayes, a Native American:

He was the subject of an article by journalist William Bradford Huie, which was adapted for the feature film The Outsider (1961), starring Tony Curtis as Hayes. The movie inspired songwriter Peter La Farge to write "The Ballad of Ira Hayes," which became popular nationwide in 1964 after being recorded by Johnny Cash. In 2006, Hayes was portrayed by Adam Beach in the World War II movie Flags of Our Fathers, directed by Clint Eastwood.

Sousley, Block and Strank are all portrayed in the 2006 film Flags of Our Fathers. William Bradford Huie, a Hartselle native, was a well-known novelist and journalist at the time. 

The Talladega also participated in the Korean and Vietnam wars and was finally scrapped in 1982. You can find many more details and a photo gallery about her here.

The city of Talladega has honored the ship with a monument on the courthouse square.

Photo taken by Rivers Langley 27 October 2011

Source: NavSource

SS Tuskegee Victory Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation, Portland, delivered June 5, 1945. The ship spent seven years in commercial service after the war, then returned to the National Defense Maritime Fleet in 1952. In 1958 she was refitted as a Bowditch class oceanographic survey ship for the Navy and rechristened the USNS Dutton. She served in that capacity until February 1980; the vessel was scrapped in September 2007.

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SS Selma Victory and six other ships of the class being outfitted at the California Shipbuilding Corporation in Los Angeles in June 1944 

Source: NavSource Online

USS Talladega a Victory class attack transport ca. 1945

Source: Wikipedia

SS Tuskegee Victory after its conversion to the USNS Dutton

Source: Wikipedia 

Red Oak Victory in 2013, at that time the only operational vessel of the class

Source: Wikipedia

A Visit to the Bright Star Restaurant

In recent years many Alabama restaurants have gained national acclaim, but only one of them has been around for more than a century. Tom Bonduris opened The Bright Star in Birmingham in 1907 as a 25-seat cafe. After several moves to larger quarters, he ended up in the current location in Bessemer in May 1915. An unknown travelling artist from Germany painted the European scenes on the murals inside. At the time Bessemer was a booming mining town, and the Bright Star operated around the clock.

Bill Koikos became co-owner in 1925 and worked until his death in 1980. He created their famous fried snapper throats dish. His two sons and a cousin currently operate the business. The restaurant has been expanded several times over the years and now seats 330 customers.

More history can be found at the BhamWiki linked in the first paragraph and on the restaurant's web site. Niki Sepsas' book A Centennial Celebration of The Bright Star Restaurant published in 2007 has much detailed history and many memories from customers. The book is heavily illustrated.

Last month brother Richard and I had lunch there on a Friday before making our annual visit to the coin show at the Bessemer Civic Center. Richard had that snapper throats meal, as he did last year. I had the broiled snapper; I've forgotten what I had in 2017. But it was delicious! If you've never been to the Bright Star, make a visit. You'll have a great meal, and see an historical landmark as well!

Some more comments are below. 

This four-story building was constructed by the Bessemer Realty Company. Pope Drugstore, Realty Barbershop, and legal and medical officers in addition to the Bright Star were operating there when it opened in 1915.

We found this sign in our booth this year. Marble from Sylacauga, perhaps?

As you might suspect, many famous people have eaten at the Bright Star through the decades. Bear Bryant always had a table in the back just outside the kitchen, which allowed him to enter and exit unobtrusively.

Quick Visits to Bessemer & Jasper

Recently my brother Richard and I took one of our annual trips together seeking Alabama and family history. Last year's July trip took us to several places that I've written about: Aberfoil, Brundidge, Camp Hill, Tallassee and Union Springs. Once I scan some photos I have earlier years to discuss as well.

We've decided we're probably going to stop taking these trips in July. We're thinking more along the lines of January or February next time. 

As is usually the case, we started our trip this year on Friday with the Alabama Numismatic Society's annual show at the Bessemer Civic Center. Richard is the coin and currency collector in the family, an interest he picked up from dad. I've always been curious about coins and currency, though, and learn a few things each time we go. 

I have fond memories of dad's collecting in the days before he became interested in archaeology. He would often come home from work on Fridays with large bags of coins he'd gotten at the bank, and the three of us would go through them looking for goodies. 

The show also has dealers selling other items, and I've picked up old maps of Birmingham and Alabama there in the past. This year I spent some time going through numerous old Alabama postcards.

We left the coin show around 4 pm and headed on surface roads through Bessemer, Midfield, and Birmingham toward Jasper. We were looking for Green Top Bar-B-Q in Dora, where Richard remembered eating back in the 1970's. We had wonderful bar-b-q plates there; we always manage to enjoy such places on our trips. The restaurant has some history of its own, having opened when "Truman was President" as their web site proclaims.

Then we left for Oak Hill Cemetery in Jasper. My comments about that portion of the trip are below. The city of Jasper is not named after the semi-precious gemstone, by the way, but after a Revolutionary War hero from South Carolina named William Jasper. 

In the weeks to come I'll be posting more on places we visited on this trip. 

We have some ancestors buried in the cemetery, but we found a few other interesting markers first. Near the cemetery entrance is the gravestone above that marks the final resting place of William Haynes Bankhead Perry. Born in South Carolina, he died in Jasper in November 1915. His wife was Louise Bankhead; as we'll see Perry married into a prominent family in Jasper and Alabama.

His stone was carved by Giuseppe Moretti, the Italian sculpture responsible for promoting Sylacauga marble in many works and the iron Vulcan on Red Mountain. Moretti created only 14 cemetery memorials. 

The graves above and below mark various members of the Bankhead family, prominent in Jasper, Alabama, and beyond. A number of them are buried in Oak Hill.

 Below is the impressive stone for John Hollis Bankhead and his wife Tallulah. A Civil War veteran, Bankhead was variously a farmer, warden of the state penitentiary at Wetumpka, businessman, and a U.S. Representative for 20 years. His son John became a U.S. Senator, son William Speaker of the U.S. House, and daughter Marie director of the state archives for many years. Granddaughter and actress Tallulah was named after his wife. 

Some of our Shores and Samford ancestors can be found in a more modest section of the cemetery. The other side of this stone reads "Samford".

This area brother Richard is walking has a number of our Shores and Samford ancestors. 

My maternal grandparents Tempe and John Miller Shores are both buried in this family plot. My grandmother died two months after I was born; mom says she got to see me before her death. 

My grandfather served many years as a minister in the North Alabama Conference of the Methodist Church. 

Another Shores ancestor practiced medicine in Alabama for many years. 

Lydia Ann Edwards [1833-1879] was the first wife of James Wilson Shores [1828-1918], another long-serving Methodist minister in the family. In the early part of his career he was a circuit rider, and the state archives has his journal for the 1850's. An excerpt can be read here. He and his second wife are buried in Montgomery.

Lydia was originally buried in a Dallas County cemetery that in recent years had been abandoned and become overgrown. Eventually several members of the family and an archaeologist disinterred her remains and moved them to this location in Jasper. Very little actually survived, but the broken gravestone came with them. That's another story I may tell one day.