SS Frederick Bartholdi in September 1944, at Kames Bay. SS Frederick Bartholdi SS "Frederick Bartholdi" was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Frederick Bartholdi, French sculptor who is best known for designing "Liberty Enlightening the World", commonly known as the Statue of Liberty. "Frederick Bartholdi" was laid down on 29 August 1943, under a Maritime Commission (MARCOM) contract, MC hull 1503, by J.A. Jones Construction, Brunswick, Georgia; sponsored by Mrs. O.H. Hall, and launched on 9 November 1943. She was allocated to the West India Steamship Company, on 11 November 1943. On 24
Statue of Liberty the Eiffel factory in the nearby Parisian suburb of Levallois-Perret. The change in structural material from masonry to iron allowed Bartholdi to change his plans for the statue's assembly. He had originally expected to assemble the skin on-site as the masonry pier was built; instead he decided to build the statue in France and have it disassembled and transported to the United States for reassembly in place on Bedloe's Island. In a symbolic act, the first rivet placed into the skin, fixing a copper plate onto the statue's big toe, was driven by United States Ambassador to France Levi P.