It's a desperate effort to keep Britain supplied in its war effort against Nazi

亟需為對抗納粹的英國提供補給品

Germany. But they're being decimated by enemy ships and submarines. In 1940 alone,

但光是在1940年，德軍就透過船艦與潛艦

Germany will sink over 1,000 Allied ships. Britain is at risk of being

擊沉了超過千艘的盟軍船隻，英國正面臨斷炊危機

starved of supplies. The Allies response is brutally simple. Find a way to build

盟軍對此的解決之道比大家想得更單純也更粗暴

thousands of cargo ships and build them faster than Germany can ever hope to

那就是建造數以千計的貨輪 讓德軍擊沉它們的速度，趕不上建造速度

sink them. In just four years, America will construct over 2,700

在短短的四年內， 美國就建造了超過2,700艘的自由級貨輪

Liberty class cargo ships and each will be built not in months, but mere weeks.

而且每艘的建造時間甚至不是用月來計算， 而是僅有數周，甚至是僅有數天

Some in a matter of days. These ugly and hastily built ships will be loaded to

在短短的幾天之內，這些其貌不揚且倉促趕工的船隻

the brim and sent overseas. And they're going to help the Allies win the war.

將會載滿補給品穿越大海並為盟軍帶來勝利

By late 1940, much of Europe had fallen to Nazi Germany and the British

在1940年底，大部分歐洲已落入納粹德國手中

Commonwealth now stood alone in its fight. But the island nation was being

只剩大英國協孤軍奮戰，但本島亟需補給品進行抗戰

starved of much-needed supplies for its war effort. German U-boats,warships and

德軍的U艇、戰艦與戰機正讓航向英國的

aircraft were inflicting heavy losses to incoming shipping traffic, sinking ships

交通船隻帶來巨大損失，被擊沉的船隻多到

faster than Britain could replace them. The United States, although not yet at

讓英國無法承受並來不及替補

war, was playing a vital role in supplying Britain in its war effort. And

美國雖然未直接參與戰事， 但在補給英國中占有重要角色

its enormous industrial capacity was critical to helping Britain stay in the

美國可觀的工業產能讓英國得以在抗戰中撐下去

fight. But with Germany sinking ships daily, Britain and America desperately

但德軍每天都不斷在擊沉船隻， 英國與美國都亟欲讓戰需品穿越海洋

needed a way to keep all that war material moving. The problem was, in the

然而他們面臨到的問題是

entire decade prior, America had only built a couple dozen ships. So at the

在過去幾十年間，美國僅建造了數十艘船隻

start of 1941, US President Franklin Roosevelt announces the emergency

因此在1941年初，美國羅斯福總統宣布了緊急造船計畫

shipbuilding program. It'll be an enormous effort to produce ships on an

這將是一個史無前例的大規模造船計畫

unprecedented scale. But to do that, they'll need to build a special kind of

為達成此目的，他們必須建造一種特殊的船艦

ship. Dreadful looking objects. That's how President Roosevelt described

當羅斯福總統第一次看到自由輪的設計時，他形容道：

Liberty ships when he first saw their design.

這真是其貌不揚的東西

Time magazine nicknamed them ugly ducklings.They're not much to look at

時代雜誌甚至給他起了醜小鴨的綽號

and from a design standpoint there's also really nothing remarkable about

從設計的觀點來看，它真的乏善可陳

them. With 10,000 tons of cargo capacity, they are a large ship for the day, but

具有10,000噸的裝載量，在當時算是大型貨輪

they're also obsolete. Their design is 60 years old. Based off a British ship built

但它們也非常過時，它是根據60年前 也就是19世紀生產的英國船隻所設計的

in the 19th century, they're powered by an antiquated compound steam engine.

它由老舊且低動力的複合蒸汽引擎所驅動

They're under powered. If the Atlantic seas are rough enough

如果大西洋海象惡劣並又駛錯方向

and moving in the wrong direction, a Liberty might not be able to move

自由輪甚至無法正常航行

forward at all. Most liberties were given like defenses a 3-inch bow gun and a

大部分自由輪在艦艏搭載了3英吋口徑砲

four or five inch stern gun along with anti-aircraft weaponry. They were crewed by

在艦艉則搭載4或5英吋口徑砲以及防空武器來自衛

45 volunteer Merchant Mariner and one or two dozen Navy armed guard. But in

由45名志願商船水手及 10或20名左右的海軍護衛隊操作船隻

reality, the heroic men who served aboard these ships were vulnerable and paid a

實際上，這些英雄在艦上服役期間付出了慘痛代價

heavy price. But Liberty ships aren't remarkable for their capabilities out at sea.

但自由輪令人感到驚奇的地方不在海上

The history they made was in how they were built. Their design

而是在造船業界創造了歷史

is deliberately basic. Because that's what's going to allow for thousands to

它們被故意設計得很簡單， 使得它可以被數以千計的建造

be built, with most being constructed in just a few weeks. Liberty ships

大部分僅需數周便建造完成

aren't expected to last. They're engineered lifespan is only five years.

自由輪也不被期待可以長久使用 它的設計壽命僅有5年

But if a Liberty Ship can make just one single trip across the ocean with cargo,

但只要自由輪成功帶著貨物穿越海洋1次

well that's a success worth the two million dollar price tag. That's how

那它就成功達成了它的使命並對得起它200萬的牌價

desperate the situation was. The task of constructing Liberty ships will be

當時的情況就是這麼絕望。而建造自由輪的使命

assigned to 18 shipyards to spread across the coastal United States and

被分配到美國沿岸的18個造船廠

they'll soon be producing Liberty ships at an incredible rate. By 1943, these

且這些工廠將以驚人的速度建造自由輪

shipyards will launch a new ship on average every eight hours. There's

在1943年，平均每8小時就有1艘自由輪下水

two revolutionary changes in shipbuilding that'll make this enormous

他為造船業界帶來2項創舉，使得這豐功偉業成為可能

feed possible. The first is welding. Up until this point, almost all ships were

第一是大量使用焊接， 當時造船業界大部分是使用鉚釘將船體拼裝

built by riveting pieces together, a slow process requiring skill and physical

但鉚接工法是需要技術與體力的緩慢程序

strength. but Liberty ships workforce would not be skilled. Most would be

然而當時建造自由輪的人力可能不具備這樣的技術

plucked off farms and nearly a third would be women. Welding would drastically

大部分人是從農村來的且近三分之一是女性

speed up the assembly process. The second revolutionary step will bring assembly

採用焊接可大幅地加速組裝的程序。 第二項創舉則是將產線裝配的概念

line logic to the shipbuilding industry. Instead of building a ship from start to

導入造船業界，各式零組件可同時生產與組裝

finish, thousands of components will be

取代了原先從無到有的緩慢造船方式。

manufactured at the same time, at different locations and then brought to

數以千計生產好的各式零組件從各地運送到 造船廠做最後組裝

the shipyard for final assembly. Where it used to take six months to construct a

原本需花費半年才能建造像自由輪如此大小的船隻

Liberty sized ship, by 1944 it was taking on average only 42 days.

但在1944年，完整建造一艘自由輪平均只需花費42天

And shipyards would compete to see how fast they could build them. One yard

造船廠間甚至會互相較勁，看誰能更快造好自由輪

would finish a Liberty in a month and another would break this record, doing it

當一間造船廠可在1個月內造好一艘自由輪時， 另一間工廠可能很快就用3周的時間打破紀錄

in just three weeks. Then in November of 1942, the Richmond shipyards in

在1942年11月，位於加州的Richmond造船廠

California managed to build a Liberty in just four days and

僅用4天又15小時就完成一艘自由輪

fifteen hours. And then it broke in two. Okay, so not that particular Liberty ship,

然後就斷成兩截，當然不是特定指那一艘自由輪

but some early liberties did literally break in half. These ships were notorious

但許多早期的自由輪因為結構上的破損， 而真如字面上所說的斷成兩截

for developing serious structural cracks. You see, welding instead of riveting

就如同大家所知道的，自由輪因使用焊接取代鉚釘， 容易讓破損延伸至整個船體而臭名遠播

meant that cracks could easily spread throughout the hall. Revolutionary

這些造船業的創舉也代表

changes in shipbuilding meant there were some kinks to work out.

許多地方需要更精進

Out at sea, Liberty ships were vulnerable not because they lacked serious

自由輪在航行時也相當脆弱， 但並不是因為缺乏自衛武力

defensive weaponry, but because they were slow. Convoys of Liberty ships numbering

而是因為其航速真的非常緩慢

50 or 60 would lumber along at just 10 miles per hour. At full emergency speed, a

50到60艘的運輸船團只能以10英里/小時速度航行

Liberty Ship could push 13 miles per hour. Maybe. But a surfaced German U-boat

而在緊急情況下，自由輪或許可 以13英里/小時的速度航行

could do 20 miles per hour. And that made Liberty's easy prey, especially at night.

但上浮的德軍U艇可以20英里/小時的速度航行， 這使得自由輪能被輕易的獵殺，尤其是在晚上

To improve the odds, Liberty ships were guarded by escorts. More vulnerable

為了彌補這些差距，自由輪會由護衛艦隊護航

liberties, those loaded with munitions or fuel, would travel at the center of the

而那些載滿彈藥或燃料的脆弱自由輪， 將被安排在船團中心

formation. But serving on a Liberty was dangerous and stressful and hundreds

但在自由輪上服役絕對是非常危險而且又高壓的一件事

were sunk or critically damaged throughout the war. But by mid 1941, the

整個戰事中有上百艘自由輪被擊沉或蒙受嚴重損害

sheer number of Liberty's out at sea along with an increase in their armed

但在1941年中，具有壓倒性數量的自由輪， 與日漸強化的護衛艦隊

escorts, overwhelmed German forces. Advances in anti-submarine technologies

使得德軍無以應對，再加上進步的反潛技術， 也使U艇不再是威脅

also started stamping out the U-boat threat. By mid 1944, the United States

美國在1944年中也開始著手設計並生產

began to focus on producing a new type of wartime cargo vessel: the Victory Ship,

新的戰時貨輪：勝利輪

which would never be produced on the scale that Liberty's were, but there were

雖然他沒有像自由輪如此被大規模生產

larger and faster making them far less vulnerable.

但它更大更快的設計也使勝利輪不再這麼脆弱

After the war, many liberties were put into the reserve fleet or sold off to

在戰後，許多自由輪被轉往後備艦隊， 或是被出售作為商用船隊使用

post-war merchant cargo fleets. By the 1960s their ancient design made them far

在1960年代，陳舊的設計使得它的操作成本高昂

too expensive to operate and most were sold off for scrap. Today only three

大部分船隻最後被拆解報廢換錢

remaining liberties of 2,710 survived to remind us of their enormous contribution

在2,710艘中，如今只剩3艘自由輪被保存下來

to winning the Second World War.

時時刻刻提醒我們它對二戰勝利的巨大貢獻