The SS Lone Star was a C-4 Mariner-class general cargo vessel that was completed in 1952 at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula. The Maritime Administration (MARAD) built 29 mariners for six of the larger U.S. shipping companies between 1952 and 1955.
Rather than duplicate past designs, MARAD decided to build a ship for the future. This new type cargo ship would deliver higher volumes of cargo at higher speeds than previous designs. The ships were 564-feet long, had a capacity of 14,000 deadweight tons and were loaded with innovations such as hydraulically-operated hatches, making them the largest and fastest ships in the world when they debuted.
