SS John Owen

History
United States
Name	SS John Owen
Namesake	John Owen
Builder	North Carolina Shipbuilding Company, Wilmington, North Carolina
Laid down	15 April 1943
Launched	10 May 1943
Status	scrapped 1964
General characteristics
Type	Liberty ship
Tonnage	7,000 long tons deadweight (DWT)
Length	441 ft 6 in (134.57 m)
Beam	56 ft 11 in (17.35 m)
Draft	27 ft 9 in (8.46 m)
Propulsion	Two oil-fired boilers Triple expansion steam engine Single screw 2,500 hp (1,864 kW)
Speed	11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph)
Capacity	9,140 tons cargo
Complement	41
Armament	1 × Stern-mounted 4 in (100 mm) deck gun AA guns

SS John Owen (MC contract 1970) was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after John Owen, Governor of North Carolina from 1828 to 1830.

The ship was laid down by North Carolina Shipbuilding Company in their Cape Fear River yard on April 15, 1943, and launched on May 10, 1943. Owen was chartered to the William J. Rountree Company most of World War II. First stored at the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet, she was transferred to the Astoria Reserve Fleet in 1949. While there, Owen was part of the United States Department of Agriculture grain storage program, holding 7,000 tons of grain from 1954 to 1957. It was sold for scrap in 1964.