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June 04, 2008 ABS announced it will donate $250,000 to the Institute of History of the Greek Merchant Marine for the restoration of the last available Liberty Ship, the Arthur M. Huddell, as a maritime museum to be located in Greece. (Athens, Greece) ABS announced it will donate $250,000 to the Institute of History of the Greek Merchant Marine for the restoration of the last available Liberty Ship, the Arthur M. Huddell, as a maritime museum to be located in Greece. At a ceremony attended by U.S. Maritime Administrator Sean Connaughton and Spyros Polemis, Chairman of SeaCrest Shipping who has been appointed as project manager of Liberty Enterprise SA by the Greek government, ABS Chairman and CEO Robert D. Somerville presented the check and a specially commissioned oil painting of the ship to Mr. Polemis on behalf of the Board of Directors and employees of the classification society. The ship is the gift of the U.S. government to the Greek government. It is currently in Virginia being prepared for the trans-Atlantic crossing to Greece. The importance of the Liberty ships to the resurgence of Greek merchant shipping in the post-World War II period cannot be over stated. The Greek fleet had been decimated during the war, assisting in the supply of Allied troops. With hostilities over, the U.S. government made the surplus fleet of Liberty ships available for purchase on favorable terms with Greek owners purchasing what was to become known as the 'Blessed 100' (actually 104) Liberty ships which became the foundation upon which the post-war Greek fleet was based. “The Liberties, including the Huddell were built and maintained to ABS class,” said Somerville. “Their acquisition by the Greek shipowners not only marked the resurgence of the Greek fleet but also represented the foundation of ABS' activities in the Greek market. The ships were retained in ABS class. ABS opened a new office in Piraeus to support this new fleet and the strong bonds between the classification society and the Greek shipowning community that have only strengthened over the last 60 years, were established.” The Arthur M. Huddell will join the two U.S. based Liberty ship museums, the John Brown and Jeremiah O'Brien as the last remaining members of the more than 2,000 Liberties built in U.S. shipyards in the 1940's to support the war effort. The Liberties were the first ships to be built using production line methods with one ship being constructed from keel laying to delivery in just over 4 days. Reflecting the realities of war, the ships were designed and built for a single voyage yet they proved remarkably resilient with many trading well past 30 years of age. The Arthur M. Huddell was specially converted to lay the gasoline pipeline across the English channel to supply fuel to the Allied forces after D-Day. Subsequently it served as a cable layer in commercial service. It has been laid up as part of the U.S. Maritime Administration's Reserve Fleet in the James River since being withdrawn from service. During that time it has been stripped of many fittings and much of its equipment. It will be a multi-million dollar project to restore the ship. It is intended to be a proud reminder to future generations of Greek citizens of the importance of the merchant marine to Greece and of the special relationship that these ships forged between Greece and the United States of America. Founded in 1862, ABS is a leading international classification society devoted to promoting the security of life, property and the marine environment through the development and verification of standards for the design, construction and operational maintenance of marine-related facilities. ABS Press Release 
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