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My old ship, the S.S Cleveland, C5-s-75a cargo ship pictures

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A few of the members have been talking about old cargo ships like the C-2 and others. Because of that interest, I just finished scanning photos of voyage #63 which I sailed the then S.S President Cleveland to 9 foreign ports in 92 days in the Far East. These photos combined with the General Arrangement blueprints I scanned in 1985 could be used to make a nice ship model.

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Itinerary for voyage #63. We did not go to Dairen, China, however because of a change in the schedule.
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Me in 1985, Midshipman 3rd Class
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Hard at work on the Sea Project as a Midshipman. I still have the blueprint copies of the ship that are taped to the bulkheads, and they were posted on this forum previously.
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Night at anchor
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Fore-aft corridor facing aft, my cabin directly to the right, upper engine compartment to the left, after removing the main engine room supply fan to allow replacement of the motor bearings.
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Looking aft
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Stbd boiler front
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Shaft alley looking aft
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Main engineering console. Note the old green Bailey combustion control panel with circular air & fuel chart recorders and boiler air flow gages on the right which the Junior Engineer is looking at.
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Turning around from the control console and looking to port, you can see the main engine turbines and reduction gearbox.
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Two stage steam air ejector assembly. 140 pound steam is used to power eductors which take suction from the main condenser and thus maintain condenser vacuum. This increases the pressure drop from the main steam line through the turbines, making them much more efficient and getting more power from the steam before it is condensed back into liquid water.
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Stbd side lifeboat. It had a Westerbeke diesel engine as well as oars. The port lifeboat only has Fleming gear which is a series of mechanical levers that the screw pull in a rowing motion similar to oars, but which are linked directly to a shaft which drives a propeller. It's absolutely tortuous to use. I'd rather use oars.


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Looking aft from the bow
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My sea partner, Midshipman Craig Culver 2nd Class, looking down at the water from the bow.
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Another view form the bow
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On the quarterdeck looking forward along the port side. The awning covers the line winched and carpenter shop.
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The other side of the fantail or quarterdeck.
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Looking aft. Note the black kingposts for the crane booms for hatch #6.
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Me with some longshoreman cooking dinner on the fantail, one day before the typhoon that hit Chittagong, Bangladesh 1985 and killed 40,000. We left these guys behind to sail north to escape the typhoon. Who knows if these guys who were left behind are still alive.
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Near Jamnagar, India
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Ship's waitress enjoying the weather on the flying bridge
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Offloading sacks of bulger wheat in India
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A longshoreman crane operator, Deck Cadet, and Chief Mate watching cargo operations
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Offloading containers
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Being towed and escorted by tug in the channel.
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View of the bow from the kingpost
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View of the grain sacks in hatch #6 from the aftermost kingpost
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Turning around to face aft, you can see the fantail and the awning over the carpenter shop.
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Captain Forest P. Moran. He was never in a good mood.
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Hydraulic folding hatch covers on the weather deck and orlop deck below. Nothe the grey weather deck hatch covers have twist locks fittings for holding containers placed on top.
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Me and Craig having lunch on Boogie street in Singapore. The sate (satay) tastes great! This area was an open market with food and bootleg music cassettes, books, and fake Rolex watches from China. Now that's all gone and replaced with a large mall and Japanese banks. I still have a couple of those fake Rolex's, one of which is self winding and is my dress watch.
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Sailing the Pacific
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Almost all the wheat is gone. Underneath is urea bound for Malaysia.
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Offloading wheat
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Burial at sea for two able bodied seamen.
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The pics of people are always as nice as pieces of wood and steel! :) My roomie on the left, a MEBA apprentice on the right and yours truly in the middle in one of Olongapo's off limits bars 1967 while on a 90 day trip on the C4 SS Pioneer Myth.. Thankfully I never had to experience a burial at sea which had to be very sad.

Allan
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I was in Singapore in 1969 on R&R. Wasn’t looking for watches though! Sailed back from the Nam n the USS Durham, an LKA. No pretty waitresses and managed to sail through a big typhoon. All too much for a Marine. Gimme my rifle and point me n the right direction! Semper Fi
 
I was in Singapore in 1969 on R&R. Wasn’t looking for watches though! Sailed back from the Nam n the USS Durham, an LKA. No pretty waitresses and managed to sail through a big typhoon. All too much for a Marine. Gimme my rifle and point me n the right direction! Semper Fi
One would think that all the blood and guts a Marine would see would indicate they have strong stomachs, but put some of them inside a rolling steel can and they chuck guts. Actually, some people are predispositioned to get seasick no matter what. For me, it's just a fun ride... for the first couple of days. Then, it's just fatiguing. Acta non verba
 
APL guy here. My dad worked for Dollar Steamship before the War and then for American President Lines after the War. He was an accountant in the home office, and he'd always get me a summer job there back in the mid-sixties. Of course, I wanted to ship out for the summer, and I got my billet and papers as a wiper, but then a neighbor kid we knew whose dad was a tug skipper for Red Stack (Crowley) got a job on the tugs from his dad (which is how it worked back then,) and started a week before I was due to ship out. A steam line burst on the tug and threw the kid against a bulkhead and killed him. That aborted my merchant marine career, leaving me to sail a desk for the duration. :(

I believe that the S.S. Cleveland was one of the four (?) C-5 break-bulk/container cargo liners APL picked up from American Mail Lines when it went belly up. I can't recall if APL owned it outright or operated her on a charter from MARAD. There was some confusion around the names at that point. APL's two flagship passenger liners, 1947 launches of WWII high speed troop transport hulls stalled on the ways when the War ended that were converted to high-speed passenger liners were named S.S. President Wilson and S.S. President Cleveland. They were operated as bareboat charters from MARAD until the early 'sixties, when they "aged out" and were sold off.

Two of the American Mail ships were, I believe, formally renamed S.S. Cleveland and S.S. Wilson, although APL people seemed to call them "President" Wilson and "President" Cleveland, as they had the previously named passenger liners. In fact, at that point every APL vessel was named after a President, as were many of the Dollar Steamship Lines vessels before Dollar Steamship Lines became American President Lines in the late 'thirties, "Dollar" being short for "Dead President," I suppose. ;)

I enjoyed your photos. It must have been "the adventure of a lifetime." Nothing like those off-limits bars in Olongapo, from what I've heard! :oops:Your Cleveland looked like a working ship that was "rode hard and put away wet," but those were tough times in the American shipping industry, limping along on federal contracts making the Vietnam runs. My Cleveland (Below) in her day was always Bristol Fashion, being one of the fastest and most luxurious passenger liners in the world. I never sailed aboard her, although I had my share of ice cream sundaes in the galley when I was a kid and my dad had to go aboard to clear the purser's books when she made port on the weekend and I could tag along. Given his rank and seniority in the company, he and our family could have sailed anywhere First Class for free on the APL liners, but we never did. My dad said he didn't think having to get dressed up in a tuxedo every night to have dinner with people he didn't know because he was a company VIP was his idea of a vacation. I didn't understand that as a kid, but as an old codger now, I certainly do! ;)


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APL guy here. My dad worked for Dollar Steamship before the War and then for American President Lines after the War. He was an accountant in the home office, and he'd always get me a summer job there back in the mid-sixties. Of course, I wanted to ship out for the summer, and I got my billet and papers as a wiper, but then a neighbor kid we knew whose dad was a tug skipper for Red Stack (Crowley) got a job on the tugs from his dad (which is how it worked back then,) and started a week before I was due to ship out. A steam line burst on the tug and threw the kid against a bulkhead and killed him. That aborted my merchant marine career, leaving me to sail a desk for the duration. :(

I believe that the S.S. Cleveland was one of the four (?) C-5 break-bulk/container cargo liners APL picked up from American Mail Lines when it went belly up. I can't recall if APL owned it outright or operated her on a charter from MARAD. There was some confusion around the names at that point. APL's two flagship passenger liners, 1947 launches of WWII high speed troop transport hulls stalled on the ways when the War ended that were converted to high-speed passenger liners were named S.S. President Wilson and S.S. President Cleveland. They were operated as bareboat charters from MARAD until the early 'sixties, when they "aged out" and were sold off.

Two of the American Mail ships were, I believe, formally renamed S.S. Cleveland and S.S. Wilson, although APL people seemed to call them "President" Wilson and "President" Cleveland, as they had the previously named passenger liners. In fact, at that point every APL vessel was named after a President, as were many of the Dollar Steamship Lines vessels before Dollar Steamship Lines became American President Lines in the late 'thirties, "Dollar" being short for "Dead President," I suppose. ;)

I enjoyed your photos. It must have been "the adventure of a lifetime." Nothing like those off-limits bars in Olongapo, from what I've heard! :oops:Your Cleveland looked like a working ship that was "rode hard and put away wet," but those were tough times in the American shipping industry, limping along on federal contracts making the Vietnam runs. My Cleveland (Below) in her day was always Bristol Fashion, being one of the fastest and most luxurious passenger liners in the world. I never sailed aboard her, although I had my share of ice cream sundaes in the galley when I was a kid and my dad had to go aboard to clear the purser's books when she made port on the weekend and I could tag along. Given his rank and seniority in the company, he and our family could have sailed anywhere First Class for free on the APL liners, but we never did. My dad said he didn't think having to get dressed up in a tuxedo every night to have dinner with people he didn't know because he was a company VIP was his idea of a vacation. I didn't understand that as a kid, but as an old codger now, I certainly do! ;)


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You are correct about the C5's. APL owned and operated the Cleveland and the Wilson when I was a Midshipman on the Cleveland. It was operated as a passenger/cargo ship in the Far East. The twelve passengers were all elderly people who traveled the way they did when they were young, before commercial airplanes. The Cleveland was sold to Sealift, Inc. and after that I served as 2nd Engineering Officer on the ship again. It was like going home. Under Sealift, Inc., the S.S Cleveland did a shuttle run between Diego Garcia, Singapore, Guam, and Subic Bay (Olongapo). The Island run was really great. The passenger deck was left empty. I still miss the south seas, but not so much the humid heat of Diego Garcia.
 
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