Albert M Boe

 

Albert M. Boe

Albert M. Boe was serving as chief engineer of the United States Army interisland freighter FS-214 when that ship's starboard engine exploded on 13 April 1945. Staying in the engine room to shut off the stricken ship's engines—despite severe burns which caused his death—Boe saved his ship and the lives of his shipmates whom he had ordered topside, and earned the posthumous award of the Merchant Marine Distinguished Service Medal.

(T-AKV-6: dp. 7,176; 1. 442'; b. 57', dr. 28', s. 11.0 k., cpl. 39, cl. Albert M. Boer T. Z-EC2-C5)

The single-screw "Liberty" ship Albert M. Boe was Iaid down under a Maritime Commission contract (MCE hull 3132) on 11 July 1945 at Portland, Maine, by the New England Shipbuilding Corp.; launched on 26 September 1945; sponsored by Mrs. Antoinette Boer and delivered on 30 October 1945. The last "Liberty" ship to be constructed, Albert M. Boe was operated by the United
States Army Transportation Corps before being acquired by the Navy from the Army, via the Maritime Commission, on 1 March 1950 for assignment to the Military Sea Transportation Service.
Assigned "active, in service" status, the ship became USNS Albert M. Boe (T-AKV - ). Modified from the usual arrangement of a "Liberty" ship, Albert M. Boe boasted four large cargo
holds instead of the usual five, with kingpost-style lifting gear in lieu of the mast and boom type common to most "Liberties." Assigned to the Pacific Area Command, Albert M. Boe sup-
ported American operations in the Far East and United Nations operations in Korea, through late 1953, carrying crated aircraft plane engines, and spare parts from ports on the Gulf of Mexico to most of the major islands in the Pacific.

Transferred to the custody of the Maritime Administration on 22 January 1954, Albert M. Boe was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 11 March 1954.