S.S. Theodoric Bland Launched on May 30, 1942 from the Delta Shipbuilding Company shipyard in New Orleans, Louisiana, the Theodoric Bland saw service as a Merchant Marine ship during WWII. The steamship appears to have been named for Col. Theodorick Bland (1741-1790), the Virginia statesman who served directly under George Washington during the American Revolution. Here's a 1942 photo of the S.S. Theodoric Bland at the shipyard prior to launch. Notice there is no gun emplacement on the bow of the ship. (Photo from U.S. Naval History website: https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nhhc-series/nh-series/NH-75000/NH-75815.html)
 (Click the Photo to view a LARGER image)
The ship served during the war as a "Liberty Ship." It was 417.60 feet long and 56.80 feet wide. Liberty ships, over 2,700 of them, were mass produced during the war to replenish the alied merchant fleet destroyed by Nazi submarines. I'm grateful the Theodoric Bland wasn't one of those sunken by German u-boats or you might not be reading this. The photo below is of the S.S. Theodoric Bland on Oct. 20, 1943 while it was docked at the north side of pier 5, Newport News, Virginia. Notice there is now a gun on the bow of the ship. That's the gun my father and his fellow gunner's mate, John Henry Knuth, manned after they were assigned to this ship.  (Photo from the mariners museum: https://catalogs.marinersmuseum.org/object/ARI151014)
Knuth (on the left) and my dad, Wilburn G. "Hap" Vincent, were good friends in the U.S. Navy who kept in touch after their military service. He and my dad were stationed on the Theodoric Bland shortly after my dad enlisted. Click the photo below to open a PDF file and learn more about Knuth and how we tracked him down after my father died:  (Family photo, enahanced by MyHeritage. Click the Photo for more information) Here's a photo of the S.S. Theodoric Bland taken May 29th, 1944 two weeks before my father enlisted in the Navy. This was at pier 1, berth 15, the naval shipyard in Norfolk, Virginia. According to my mother and passenger lists, the ship was berthed at Brooklyn, New York when my mother visited my dad there. They wrote letters about it which I still have.  (Photo from the Mariners Museum) ~ END ~
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