The 'Liberty' ships were the most numerous type of merchant ships built during WW2. Designed for speed and ease of production, the ability of the American shipyards to turn these vessels out at unprecedented speeds (one, the Robert E. Peary, was completed in a record-breaking 5 days), enabled the Allies to replace the ships sunk by the U-boats in the Battle of the Atlantic and keep the vital transatlantic supply routes open. In this book, Peter Elphick tells the complete story of this ship type, from the inception of the design, through production, war service and the careers of Liberty ships after the war, largely in the words of the men and women who built them and sailed in them.