SS Jeremiah O'Brien, National Liberty Ship Memorial

One of our all-time favorite photos of the SS Jeremiah O'Brien entering the English Channel in June 1994, after her historic trans-Atlantic voyage to take part in the '50th Celebration of D-Day'. The overhead photo was taken by the Royal Air Force and if you look close you can see one of our Stewards standing on the bow.

Dec. 31, 1943 Voyage 3: The Jeremiah O’Brien is in the North Atlantic and awaits orders as she arrives in Loch Ewe, Scotland. The trip over over the top of Great Britain is completed, the next leg of her north Atlantic journey is to join up with a convoy of 14 merchant ships and one escort and to join a larger convoy of 50 ships - spread over eighteen miles wide! These ships are in transit from the Clyde and Mersey Rivers. In the convoy are 7 escorts and one aircraft carrie...r and it’s slow going. Speed is 9.5 knots as the convoy zig zags through the stormy conditions. The O’Brien plowed on relentlessly, shuddering as her bow plummeted into wave after wave, spray and saltwater making her decks and superstructure glisten After stops in St. John, New Brunswick, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Oban, Leith and Loch Ewe, she arrives in New York on March 24, 1944. The O’Brien survived winter North Atlantic and this year survived one of the greatest threats she ever faced, the fire that took down a large portion of Pier 45. This is a Lucky Ship! And as we say goodbye to 2020, it is a relief to look forward to a new and prosperous year! HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL! Excerpted from ‘The Last Liberty’ by author Capt. Walter Jaffee, a current crew member.

Until we set sail again, Season's Greetings from the gallant crew of the Jeremiah O'Brien! Looking forward to 2021...

Fisherman's Wharf, Thursday Dec. 3rd. We're getting closer to returning to our home pier after the fire. Work has been done to strip the old surface down to the bare wood of Pier 45; the 70+year old railroad tracks that had been covered up by asphalt are now visible. The pilings have been driven down and the pier is secure. With any luck we'll be back at Pier 45 by the beginning of the New Year. Thank you Port of San Francisco and the San Francisco Firefighters. Happy Holidays! We'll see you in 2021!

Work goes on in the engine room. Not sure what this machine does but maybe someone can identify it. Still at Pier 35 and waiting for our' home' at Pier 45 to be restored after the fire so we can return. Still in shutdown mode. W hope everyone has a meaningful Thanksgiving...and that this year is over soon!!

Last day of virtual #FleetWeekSF !

Still nothing exciting to report, we can't open the ship to visitors at Pier 35 since it is a locked pier. As many of you recall, our previous home at Pier 45 burned in a fire last May. We were lucky enough that the Port found a place for us to tie up at Pier 35 til our old pier is ready. The City of San Francisco is slowly opening up restaurants and businesses - including museums that had been closed due to the virus. Other museum ships around the bay might be open now, ...so to get your 'historical ship fix' you might look into visiting the USS Pampanito at Pier 45 or the SS Red Oak Victory in Richmond. Also the historic ships on Hyde Street are nearby. And there's the USS Hornet in Alameda. Please check with those ship's individual websites to determine if and when they are open for visitors. We'll be looking forward to seeing you some day soon (we hope) on the good ship SS Jeremiah O'Brien! See more

Cool rendering of the ship by Al Tuttle, this is when we were back at Pier 45. The shed is gone but we are told by the Port that we might return to the pier later in October or there about! For all you docents out there, you can appreciate that the 'Doghouse' is included in this photo. Unfortunately the doghouse couldn't be saved.

Progress Report: So far we can say that 2020 has been the worst year we've ever had since the ship came out of the Mothball Fleet. The corona virus has hit all of San Francisco hard and the O'Brien has been closed since March in accordance with the city directives. We've had to cancel all our cruises and close the ship to all visitors. Then we almost lost the ship on May 23rd when fire swept through Pier 45. We lost cars, fork lifts and supplies. But for our courageo...us San Francisco Firefighters, the ship would have certainly been lost. Now wildfires have burned throughout northern California and many of our crew and friends have had to evacuate their homes. But thankfully so far, no one has lost their home. Again, a tribute and a huge thank you to our firefighters, many of them coming from out of state and abroad to help extinguish the flames. We are so grateful. There is more good news. The virus is abating in the Bay area and things might be reopening soon. Our dock at Pier 45 is being restored and while no date has been provided, we hope to return there to resume operations. Visitors from all over the country and the world will be welcome to come back to SF to visit! To all our friends and followers, our best wishes to you and to your good health. Our volunteer crew has been working to bring the ship back to tip-top condition and plans to welcome you back to San Francisco and to Pier 45 and the WWII Liberty Ship Jeremiah O'Brien! See more

Runup to V-J Day: 1945 January 3rd- San Jacinto Ordinance Base, Texas, the O’Brien was loaded up with 10,000 tons of bombs and warheads. The bombs were carefully loaded into the holds and stood on wooden pallets and platforms that were secured at the top by large timbers with cylindrical cutouts so they couldn’t roll. The detonators or fuzzes were stored separately. The crew was apprehensive, stories of ‘ammo ships’ being hit by torpedoes and vaporizing into oblivion circul...ated. On January 17th the hatches were full and she sailed for Galveston for more cargo. The new cargo consisted of airplane belly tanks and two LCM’s (Landing Craft Medium), the deck cargo would cover most of the main deck and 2 hatches. Setting sail for voyage No 5 all five hatches were full of bombs and warheads, the main decks were stacked with aircraft tanks and two hatches had LCM’s on top. With this dangerous cargo, the ship set sail for the Canal Zone and the huge Pacific beyond. In the Pacific, the war was going in the Allies favor, but the crew continued to worry about the cargo as they zig zagged across the ocean. They crossed the equator on Feb. 21st; on the 23rd the O’Brien arrived in Admiralty Islands, then Hollandia, New Guinea where they joined a convoy of 70 vessels headed for Tacloban. Confusion reigned in Tacloban as to where to anchor but on March 12th, the shoreside authorities realized the O’Brien was carrying ammunition and she was ordered to move to the explosives anchorage. The crew complied with the relief of knowing that her cargo would be removed. But that was not to be for on March 16th, with her explosive cargo still aboard, the O’Brien was ordered to join another convoy of 57 ships headed for the northern Philippines. The O’Brien had been in the war area three weeks and still carried her explosives, airplane parts and two LCM’s, destination now was Mindoro. To be continuedV-E Day to V-J Day on Aug 15th. Taken from 'Last Liberty' by Capt. Walter Jaffee

1962: There were some 500 Liberty ships awaiting scrapping in the reserve fleets of Olympia, WA, Astoria, OR and Suisun Bay California. Admiral Tom Patterson of MARAD was inspecting the ships and slating them for scrapping, ranking them worst to best. After inspecting all 500, he said "One ship stood out among all the others, the Jeremiah O'Brien. The original doors, furniture and linoleum tables were still in place and unmarked...the gun tub still carried the traces of Miss... Jerry O'Brien, a bikinied pin-up painted there by the last crew. The ship was completely unaltered except that, like all others, her guns had been removed...all the charts were there, from Normandy to the Pacific. Something told me to hang onto her." So Admiral Patterson kept putting the O'Brien at the bottom of the scrap list and worked to save her. That was a long time ago but in 1979 with the formation of the non-profit 'National Liberty Ship Memorial' in 1979, that vision by Tom Patterson was made a reality.

This photo is an oldie but a goodie. The sky looked like it was on fire - (thankfully not the ship!) Taken in 2010 at Pier 45. She's a beauty!

This is our fundraising link for this campaign. Please like and share!

Today we are launching a campaign to help fund the ship through the rest of year. We are asking all of our friends to get the word out by sharing this link and helping us get through COVID-19 and the pier 45 fire. https://www.classy.org/campaign/c291764... Have a great independence day weekend and enjoy this video!

It's been exactly one month since the ship miraculously escaped almost certain incineration at Pier 45. In that time, we have relocated to Pier 35, graciously made available to us by Metro Cruise until we can return to our permanent home at Pier 45. After months closure due to the corona virus, you can help the ship with a donation. It would be sincerely appreciated!

A screen shot at Pier 35 from KPIX-TV!