Includes bibliographical references (p. 490-497)and index.

Machine generated contents note: PART I: IN THE BEGINNING -- 1. The Parentage of the Liberty Ship -- 2. The British Shipbuilding Mission to the United States -- 3. Birth of the Liberty Ship -- 4. The Shipyards and their Workers -- 5. The Naming Game -- 6. The Wartime Liberty Crews -- 7. Close to Calamity: the Structural Failure Problem -- PART II: THE LIBERTY AT WAR -- 8. Ubiquity -- 9. A Liberty versus a German Raider -- 10. The North Atlantic -- 11. Liberty Ships and the Northern Route to Russia -- 12. Liberties and Operation 'Torch' -- 13. Liberties as Troopships and Animal Transports -- 14. Liberties in the Mediterranean -- 15. The Poison Gas Disaster at Bari -- 16. Liberties and the Allied Salvage Services -- 17. Normandy and the Campaign in Europe -- 18. 'Let Sleeping Wrecks Lie': The On-going Saga -- of the Richard Montgomery -- 19. Liberties in the Indian Ocean -- 20. Liberties in the Pacific -- 21. The Other Allied Liberties -- PART III: AFTER THE WAR -- 22. The Liberty Ship's Role in-Peacetime -- 23. Tragedy off Porthcawl: The Loss of the Samtampa -- 24. Lost without Trace -- 25. More Post-war Disasters, Trials and Tribulations -- 26. The Last Years of the Trading Liberties -- 27. Treasure Hunt -- 28. The Surviving Liberties -- Appendices -- Bibliography -- Abbreviations -- Index.