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
Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi of building some suitable memorial to show the fraternal feeling existing between the republics of the United States and France was suggested, and in 1874 the Union Franco-Americaine (Franco-American Union) was established by Edouard de Laboulaye. Bartholdi's hometown in Alsace had just passed into German control in the Franco-Prussian War. These troubles in his ancestral home of Alsace are purported to have further influenced Bartholdi's own great interest in independence, liberty, and self-determination. Bartholdi subsequently joined this group, among whose members were Laboulaye, Paul de Rémusat, William Waddington, Henri Martin, Ferdinand Marie de Lesseps, Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de