operator usns private john f. thorson 
USNS Private John F . Thorson ( T - AK - 247 ) was a United States Maritime Administration C1 - M - AV1 type coastal cargo ship , originally planned as an Alamosa - class cargo ship . Constructed as Becket Bend for the Administration , completed in August 1945 and placed in operation by the War Shipping Administration . However , the war ended , and she was transferred to the U . S . Army as USAT Private John F . Thorson who kept her in service until transferred to the U . S . Navy in 1950 . She was struck in 1960 , ending her military career . ___MASK63___ ( often abbreviated to WWII or WW2 ), also known as the Second World War , was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945 , although related conflicts began earlier . It involved the vast majority of the world ' s nations  including all of the great powers  eventually forming two opposing military alliances : the Allies and the Axis . It was the most widespread war in history , and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries . In a state of " total war ", the major participants threw their entire economic , industrial , and scientific capabilities behind the war effort , erasing the distinction between civilian and military resources . Marked by mass deaths of civilians , including the Holocaust ( in which approximately 11 million people were killed ) and the strategic bombing of industrial and population centres ( in which approximately one million were killed , and which included the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ), it resulted in an estimated 50 million to 85 million fatalities . These made ___MASK63___ the deadliest conflict in human history . The War Shipping Administration ( WSA ) was a ___MASK63___ emergency war agency of the US government , tasked to purchase and operate the civilian shipping tonnage the US needed for fighting the war . Both shipbuilding under the Maritime Commission and ship allocation under the WSA to Army , Navy or civilian needs were closely coordinated though Vice Admiral Emory S . Land who continued as head of the Maritime Commission while also heading the WSA . Vice Admiral Emory Scott Land ( January 8 , 1879  November 27 , 1971 ) was an officer in the ___MASK56___ , noted for his contributions to naval architecture , particularly in submarine design . Notable assignments included serving as Chief of the Navy ' s Bureau of Construction and Repair during the 1930s , and as Chairman of the U . S . Maritime Commission during World War II .