SS Michael de Kovats

History
United States
Name	Michael de Kovats
Namesake	Michael de Kovats
Owner	War Shipping Administration (WSA)
Operator	Polarus Steamship Co.
Ordered	as type (EC2-S-C1) hull, MC hull 2495
Awarded	23 April 1943
Builder	St. Johns River Shipbuilding Company, Jacksonville, Florida[1]
Cost	$997,746[2]
Yard number	59
Way number	5
Laid down	9 August 1944
Launched	16 September 1944
Sponsored by	Mrs. James R.P. Bell, Jr.
Completed	27 September 1944
Identification	Call sign: KSTJ [2]
Fate	Laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Mobile, Alabama, 2 June 1948 Sold for scrapping, 22 February 1972, withdrawn from fleet, 6 March 1972
General characteristics [3]
Class and type	Liberty ship type EC2-S-C1, standard
Tonnage	10,865 LT DWT 7,176 GRT
Displacement	3,380 long tons (3,434 t) (light) 14,245 long tons (14,474 t) (max)
Length	441 feet 6 inches (135 m) oa 416 feet (127 m) pp 427 feet (130 m) lwl
Beam	57 feet (17 m)
Draft	27 ft 9.25 in (8.4646 m)
Installed power	2 × Oil fired 450 °F (232 °C) boilers, operating at 220 psi (1,500 kPa) 2,500 hp (1,900 kW)
Propulsion	1 × triple-expansion steam engine,  (manufactured by General Machinery Corp., Hamilton, Ohio) 1 × screw propeller
Speed	11.5 knots (21.3 km/h; 13.2 mph)
Capacity	562,608 cubic feet (15,931 m3) (grain) 499,573 cubic feet (14,146 m3) (bale)
Complement	38–62 USMM 21–40 USNAG
Armament	Varied by ship Bow-mounted 3 inches (76 mm)/50 caliber gun Stern-mounted 4 inches (102 mm)/50 caliber gun 2–8 × single 20 millimeters (0.79 in) Oerlikon anti-aircraft (AA) cannons and/or, 2–8 × 37 millimeters (1.46 in) M1 AA guns

SS Michael de Kovats was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Michael de Kovats, a Hungarian nobleman and cavalry officer who served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, in which he was killed in action. General Casimir Pulaski and Kovats are together known as the "Founding Fathers of the US Cavalry."

Michael de Kovats was laid down on 8 August 1944, under a Maritime Commission (MARCOM) contract, MC hull 2495, by the St. Johns River Shipbuilding Company, Jacksonville, Florida; she was sponsored by Mrs. Daniels Brierley, the wife of the director of the division of maintenance and repairs MARCOM, Washington, DC, and was launched on 16 September 1944.^[1][2]

She was allocated to the Polarus Steamship Co., on 27 September 1944. On 2 June 1948, she was laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Mobile, Alabama. She was sold for scrapping, 22 February 1972, to Pinto Island Metals Co., for $37,500. She was removed from the fleet, 6 March 1972.^[4]