SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco cherishes its naval and military history and is home to the SS Jeremiah O’Brien, one of the last remaining Liberty ships that sailed into harm’s way to help win World War II. Now it faces another threat — a financial one — and they’re making a desperate appeal to the public to keep the ship afloat.
When the Jeremiah O’Brien was launched in 1943, it was one of 2,700 Liberty ships that carried troops and supplies to the war in Europe. Its crew of 56 was constantly threatened by swarms of German U-boats trying to sink them, and the O’Brien was front and center, ferrying troops to Omaha Beach on D-Day.
“This ship was right between the Texas and the Augusta, a cruiser, and it was shelling the beach, the emplacements on the beach. So they were right in the middle of it,” said Jon Eaton, the ship’s chief engineer.
He pointed to a four-inch hole from a shell in the starboard steel railing and dents in the hull from landing craft that slammed into the sides that fateful day. Eaton said you can feel the history as you wander through the narrow passages.
“Wherever you walk here, you’re walking in the footsteps of people who really went through it,” he said. “So if you think you’re having a bad day, just think about going to sea when they’re shooting at you.”
There’s something very special about this floating museum. It’s still sailing — one of only two Liberty ships in the entire country that can claim that. Its mighty steam engines still work, taking visitors out onto the bay on Fleet Week cruises.
“I like to tell people you’re on one of America’s most historic ships,” said Capt. Cevan LeSieur. “This is the only ship that was in service and part of the D-Day invasion in 1944. So, as operational ships go, I think this is the most historic operational ship in the United States.”
Sailing this ship requires a lot of maintenance and safety regulations and therefore money. That is the problem.
“We’ve never recovered, in terms of visitors, to the level we had before the pandemic. We’re basically getting about 35 percent of the visitors we had before 2020,” said Captain LeSieur. “The reality is we need that money to keep this ship as an operational memorial to World War II veterans. There’s just no way around it.”
The ship’s keepers have put out an urgent appeal to the community, asking for donations and more people to come visit. They say it didn’t help that, in the middle of the pandemic, a massive fire at the port forced the ship to be moved to Pier 35. It’s not far away — just the other side of Pier 39 — but many visitors simply don’t see it when they walk by. As a result, the loss of revenue and the rising costs of Coast Guard mandates have all but dried up the nonprofit’s savings. Within months, they’ll be out of money.
“When you think about it stopping sailing, especially considering everything it represents — the history, our veterans of World War II — it’s unthinkable that the ship could stop,” said Capt. LeSieur. “Our hearts and hands are open. We need help. We need to preserve this piece of American history.”
Most old Liberty ships were chopped up and scrapped for steel. No one thinks that would happen to the Jeremiah O’Brien. More likely, some other city would consider it a permanent, floating museum. But it would be hard for those who worked so hard to keep the old lady afloat to see her engines silenced, tied up to a dock, never to sail again.
For more information or to donate, visit the SS Jeremiah O’Brien website
