Acquisition By The U.S. Navy During World War II
The Liberty was acquired for wartime use by the United States Navy in 1942 after it reportedly was hit and damaged by enemy fire during the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. It was subsequently designated Yard Patrol Craft YP-278. In 1942, the U. S. armed services, under Rear Admiral C. H. Cobb, responding to widespread complaints about armed service food, recognized the need to provide its servicemen in the southwestern Pacific theater with fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, and condiments. YP-278 was one of only a few private yachts seized by the Navy and converted to ocean-going refrigerator ships in order to enable the War Department to distribute food supplies from Australia and New Zealand rather than from the more distant U. S. mainland. Once they began receiving better food, troops in the region were noted to be in better spirits. Thus YP-278 was one of the war’s most popular ships, its commander and crew hailed as lifesavers from one end of the southwest Pacific to the other.
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