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Type C1 was a designation for small cargo ships built for the U.S. Maritime Commission before and during World War II. The first C1 types were the smallest of the three original Maritime Commission designs, meant for shorter routes where high speed and capacity were less important. Only a handful were delivered prior to Pearl Harbor. But many C1-A and C1-B ships were already in the works and were delivered during 1942. Many were converted to military purposes including troop-transports during the war. The Type C1-M ship was a separate design, for a significantly smaller and shallower draft vessel. This design evolved as an answer for the projected needs for military transport and supply of the pacific island campaigns. Note any Type C1 ship in the control of the British Ministry of War Transport took an Empire name even if being built as another name e.g. ''Cape Turner''. ==Origins== The United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) was an independent executive agency of the US Federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, passed by Congress on 29 June 1936 and replaced the U.S. Shipping Board which had existed since World War I. It was intended to formulate a merchant shipbuilding program to design and build five hundred modern merchant cargo ships to supplement and replace the World War I vintage vessels, including Hog Islander ships, that comprised the bulk of the U.S. Merchant Marine. From 1939 through the end of World War II, MARCOM funded and administered the largest and most successful merchant shipbuilding effort in world history, producing thousands of ships, including Liberty ships, Victory ships, and others, notably type C1 ships, type C2 ships, type C3, type C4 ships, T2 tankers, Landing Ship Tank (LST)s and patrol frigates. By the end of the war, U.S. shipyards working under MARCOM contracts had built a total of 5,777 oceangoing merchant and naval ships. What was later known as the C1-A was among the three original cargo ship designs including the basic C2 and C3. The further developments included the C1-B which included minor changes and turbine engines, and then more radical departures for special needs to meet the exigencies of the war, including troop ships based on the C1-B. Deliveries of the C1-B began before the other models, in mid 1941. The C series of ships differed from the Liberty and Victory ships. The first C series vessels were designed prior to hostilities and were meant to be commercially viable ships to modernize the US Merchant Marine, and reduce the US reliance on foreign shipping. The Liberty ships were a throwback to late 19th century British designs with reciprocating steam engines, but were very cheap to build in large quantities; Victory ships evolved from the Liberty ships but used modern turbine engines. The C series ships were more expensive to produce, but their economic viability lasted well into the late 1960s and early 1970s in military and merchant fleets. Several ships are still in operation. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Type C1 ship」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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