View source for SS Red Oak Victory

{{short description|Victory ship of WWII}}
{{morefootnotes|date=October 2024}}
{{Use American English|date=October 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
|+SS ''Red Oak Victory''
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=RedOakVictory-2013-07-20.jpg
|Ship caption= SS ''Red Oak Victory''
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United States|naval}}
|Ship name=''Red Oak Victory''
|Ship namesake=The city of [[Red Oak, Iowa|Red Oak]], Iowa
|Ship owner=
|Ship operator=
|Ship registry=
|Ship route=
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder=[[Permanente Metals Corporation]], [[Richmond, California]]
|Ship original cost=
|Ship yard number=Yard No.1
|Ship way number=
|Ship laid down=9 September 1944
|Ship launched=7 November 1944
|Ship acquired=5 December 1944
|Ship commissioned=5 December 1944
|Ship decommissioned=21 May 1946
|Ship completed=
|Ship christened=
|Ship maiden voyage=
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=19 December 1969
|Ship struck=19 July 1946
|Ship identification=*[[Hull classification symbol#Support type|Hull symbol]]: AK-235
*{{IMO Number|5291331}}
*[[Maritime call sign|Callsign]]: KYVM
|Ship fate=Released from the National Defense Reserve Fleet, 19 September 1998 for restoration at the Richmond, California, Museum of History
|Ship status=Museum at Richmond, California
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=<ref name="navsource">{{cite web | url=http://www.navsource.net/archives/09/13/130235.htm | title=USS Red Oak Victory (AK-235) |website=NavSource | access-date=28 May 2015}}</ref>
|Ship class={{sclass|Boulder Victory|cargo ship}}
|Ship type=
|Ship tonnage= 
|Ship displacement={{Boulder cargo displacement}}
|Ship length= {{Boulder cargo length}}
|Ship beam= {{Boulder cargo beam}}
|Ship height=
|Ship draft= {{Boulder cargo draft}}
|Ship depth=
|Ship hold depth= 
|Ship decks=
|Ship deck clearance=
|Ship ramps=
|Ship ice class=
|Ship power={{Boulder cargo power}}
|Ship propulsion=*1 × Westinghouse turbine
*2 × [[Babcock & Wilcox boiler#Babcock .26 Wilcox boiler|Babcock & Wilcox]] header-type boilers, 525psi 750°
*double Westinghouse Main Reduction Gears
*1 × [[Drive shaft#Marine drive shafts|shaft]]
|Ship speed={{Boulder cargo speed}}
|Ship range=
|Ship endurance=
|Ship boats= 
|Ship capacity= 
|Ship troops= 
|Ship complement=     99 officers and enlisted
|Ship time to activate=
|Ship sensors=
|Ship EW=
|Ship armament=*1 × [[5"/38 caliber gun|{{convert|5|in|mm|abbr=on}}/38]] [[caliber (artillery)|caliber]] [[dual purpose gun]]
*1 × [[3"/50 caliber gun|{{convert|3|in|mm|abbr=on}}/50]] caliber dual purpose gun
*8 × [[Oerlikon 20 mm cannon|{{convert|20|mm|in|abbr=on}} Oerlikon cannons]] anti-aircraft gun mounts
|Ship crew=
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox NRHP
| embed       = yes
| name        = SS ''Red Oak Victory''
| nrhp_type   =
| image       = RedOakVictory2.JPG
| caption     = SS ''Red Oak Victory'' as seen from the dock in 2006, before extensive restoration work was performed
| image_size  = 300
| location    = [[Richmond, California]]
| coordinates = {{coord|37|54|17.3|N|122|21|52|W|display=inline,title}}
| locmapin    = California#USA
| map_width   = 300
| area        =
| built       = 1944
| added       = 30 January 2000
| refnum      = 00001674<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2006a}}</ref>
}}
|}

'''SS ''Red Oak Victory'''''  is a U.S. [[Victory ship]] of the {{sclass|Boulder Victory|cargo ship}} used in the [[Second World War]].  She was preserved to serve as a [[museum ship]] in [[Richmond, California|Richmond]], [[California]], and is managed by the Richmond Library of History and located near the [[Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park]]. She was one of 534 Victories built during [[World War II]], but one of only a few of these ships to be transferred from the [[United States Merchant Marine|Merchant Marine]] to the [[United States Navy]]. She was named after [[Red Oak, Iowa]], which suffered disproportionate casualties in early World War II battles.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.qsl.net/redoakarc/index.htm
|title=Red Oak Victory Amateur Radio Club
|publisher=Red Oak Victory Amateur Radio Club
|access-date=2007-09-02
|archive-date=2007-08-24
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070824150259/http://www.qsl.net/redoakarc/index.htm
|url-status=dead
}}</ref><ref>
{{cite news
|title=Emmet County Leads in War Dead Ratio
|newspaper=[[Mason City Globe-Gazette]]
|page=2
|date=3 January 1946
}}</ref> [[Montgomery County, Iowa|Montgomery County]] ranked third among Iowa counties in World War II casualties per capita.<ref name="nps">{{cite web |url=http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/wwIIbayarea/red.htm |title=SS ''Red Oak Victory'' (victory ship) |work=World War II in the San Francisco Bay Area |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |access-date=2007-04-03 |archive-date=2007-02-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070213052023/http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/wwIIbayarea/red.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> The ship was active during [[World War II]], the [[Korean War]], and the [[Vietnam War]].

==History==
''Red Oak Victory'' was built by the [[Permanente Metals Corporation|Permanente Metals Corporation's]] [[Richmond Shipyards|Richmond Number 1 Yard]] in [[Richmond, California]] and launched on 9 November 1944. The ship is {{convert|455|ft}} in length, and armed with one [[5"/38 caliber gun|five-inch/38 caliber gun]]; one [[3"/50 caliber gun|three-inch/50 caliber gun]], and eight 20&nbsp;mm guns.

The ship was acquired by the [[United States Navy]] on 5 December 1944, and commissioned the same day as USS ''Red Oak Victory'' (AK-235). Following a fitting-out period, ''Red Oak Victory'' was loaded with cargo and departed San Francisco for [[Pearl Harbor]] on 10 January 1945. ''Red Oak Victory'' departed Hawaii on 10 February loaded with [[munition]]s needed in the [[Marshall Islands|Marshall]] and [[Caroline Islands|Caroline]] islands. Sent onward from [[Enewetak]], she arrived in [[Ulithi]] on 28 February and then began operating under [[Commander Service Squadron Ten]]. Operating out of the [[Philippines]], she issued cargo and ammunition to various fleet ships through the war's end in August 1945. During a hazardous tour of duty in the Pacific, ''Red Oak Victory'' handled many tons of ammunition, supplying the fleet without a single casualty.

''Red Oak Victory'' was decommissioned in 1946 and returned to the [[U.S. Maritime Commission]]. ''Red Oak Victory'' was used by the [[Luckenbach Steamship Company]] from 1947 through the 1950s, when the vessel went to Japan, Korea, Cuba, Pakistan, India, Singapore, and Japan again. ''Red Oak Victory'' was operated by [[American Mail Lines]] for the [[Military Sea Transport Service]] from 1966 to 1968, making a dozen voyages to Vietnam, Japan, and the Philippines carrying military supplies loaded at West Coast ports. From 1968 until 1998, she was laid up in the [[National Defense Reserve Fleet]] in [[Suisun Bay, California|Suisun Bay]].

Destined to be scrapped, ''Red Oak Victory'' came to the attention of the Richmond Museum Association in 1993. In 1996 [[United States Congress|Congress]] passed legislation authorizing the ship's conveyance to the Museum Association. ''Red Oak Victory'' was turned over to the Richmond Museum of History and towed to a new home in [[Richmond Shipyards|Richmond Shipyard 3]] (near the location where Shipyard 1 was, where the ship was actually built in 1944) on 20 September 1998. She is being restored and operated by the Richmond Museum of History and is associated with the [[Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park|Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park]].

==See also==
*[[National Register of Historic Places listings in Contra Costa County, California]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*{{DANFS|http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/auxil/ak235.htm}}
*{{cite web
|url={{NRHP url|id=00001674}}
|title=National Register of Historic Places Registration Form / S.S. Red Oak Victory
|format=pdf
|last=Sampson
|first=Shelby
|publisher=[[National Park Service]]
|date=30 June 2000
|access-date=2012-10-16
}}
**{{cite web
|url={{NRHP url|id=00001674|photos=y}}
|title=Accompanying Photos
|format=pdf
|access-date=2012-10-16
}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{Official website|http://www.redoakvictory.us}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071014044114/http://hnsa.org/ships/redoak.htm ''Red Oak Victory''] Historic Naval Ships Association
* {{HAER |survey=CA-326-F |id=ca3334 |title=Rosie the Riveter National Historical Park, SS RED OAK VICTORY, Moored at end of Dornan Drive, Pt. Richmond, Richmond, Contra Costa County, CA}}

{{Victory ship cargo ship classes}}
{{Kaiser, Permanente Metals, Richmond Shipyards}}
{{Victory ships}}
{{History of Richmond, California}}
{{Richmond, California}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Red Oak Victory}}
[[Category:Victory ships]]
[[Category:Boulder Victory-class cargo ships]]
[[Category:Ships built in Richmond, California]]
[[Category:1944 ships]]
[[Category:Ammunition ships of the United States Navy]]
[[Category:World War II auxiliary ships of the United States]]
[[Category:Museum ships in California]]
[[Category:Ships on the National Register of Historic Places in California]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Richmond, California]]
[[Category:Military and war museums in California]]
[[Category:Museums in Contra Costa County, California]]
[[Category:Naval museums in the United States]]
[[Category:History of Contra Costa County, California]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Richmond, California]]
[[Category:Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park]]
[[Category:Historic American Engineering Record in California]]
[[Category:World War II on the National Register of Historic Places in California]]
[[Category:James River Reserve Fleet]]
[[Category:Astoria Reserve Fleet]]
[[Category:Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet]]