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. Variations The Type C1-A and C1-B ships were similar in design, All had a rated top speed of . The primary difference between them was that C1-A ships were shelter deck ships, while C1-B ships were full scantling ships. The C1-M was the type with the largest production; it was a significant variation from the original C1 design in size, performance and profile; these were shorter, narrower, slower and the superstructure was farther toward the stern. The C-1 (A and B variants) employed two kind of propulsion systems. One group comprising 19 C1-A, 85 C1-B and all 13 C1-S-AY1 used 4,000hp compound turbines (one high pressure and one low pressure turbine) and turbo-electric generators for auxiliary power. The other group of 46 C1-A and 10 C1-B used two 2,000hp diesel engines connected to a single reduction gearset via magnetic couplings, in the same family as the system used on various C3 ships where four such engines were coupled to one gearset for a total of 8,000hp. The C1-M variant used diesel propulsion exclusively, but only a single 2,000hp range engine and without magnetic couplings. All turbines and diesel engines were sourced from a variety of manufacturers. With the exception of ships built for specific shipping lines before the war, the majority of the C1-A and C1-B ships were given two-word names beginning with "Cape", such as . C1-A Forty-six Type C1-A ships were built at Pennsylvania Shipyards, Inc. in Beaumont, Texas, with another 19 being built by Pusey and Jones in Wilmington, Delaware (not to be confused with Consolidated Steel's Wilmington, California location). The majority were built with diesel motors, though 19 were built with steam turbine engines. These were shelter deck ships, having a very light upper deck, the sides of which are open ports to the second or main deck. The first keels were laid in 1939. Two of the Pusey and