HELLAS LIBERTY – IMO 5025706
ex ARTHUR M. HUDDELL – surviving World War II Liberty ship and Greek maritime museum
HELLAS LIBERTY is one of the last surviving American-built Liberty ships and one of the most historically important preserved merchant vessels in Greece.
Built in Florida in 1943 as ARTHUR M. HUDDELL, the vessel served during the Second World War and was specially adapted to transport equipment associated with Operation PLUTO – Pipe Line Under The Ocean, the Allied project to supply fuel across the English Channel following the Normandy landings.
Decades later, the surviving hull was donated by the United States to Greece and towed across the Atlantic to Piraeus, arriving on 11 January 2009.
Following almost two years of extensive restoration, she became:
HELLAS LIBERTY
and opened as a floating museum dedicated both to the Liberty ships and to their central role in the post-war rebirth of Greek merchant shipping.
Vessel Details
Current Name: HELLAS LIBERTY
Original Name: ARTHUR M. HUDDELL
IMO: 5025706
Type: EC2-S-C1 Liberty Cargo Ship / Museum Ship
Built: 1943
Builder: St. Johns River Shipbuilding Company, Jacksonville, Florida, USA
Original Role: Wartime cargo vessel; later PLUTO pipeline support
Length Overall: approx. 135 m / 441 ft 6 in
Beam: approx. 17.3 m / 57 ft
Maximum Historical Displacement: approx. 14,474 t
Historical Deadweight: approx. 10,865 t
Original Propulsion: Triple-expansion steam engine
Original Power: approx. 2,500 hp
Original Speed: approx. 11–11.5 knots
Museum Location: Piraeus pending relocation
Museum Status in 2026: Temporarily closed pending final relocation to the Maritime Tradition Park
Major Preservation Drydock: June 2026.
Built during World War II
ARTHUR M. HUDDELL was completed in:
December 1943
at Jacksonville, Florida.
She belonged to the enormous Liberty-ship construction programme that produced nearly:
2,700 merchant vessels
during the Second World War.
The purpose was simple but strategically vital: to replace merchant ships faster than Axis submarines and aircraft could destroy them.
Operation PLUTO
In 1944, ARTHUR M. HUDDELL was modified to transport flexible pipeline equipment for:
Operation PLUTO – Pipe Line Under The Ocean.
The project laid fuel pipelines beneath the English Channel to support Allied forces advancing through France after the:
Normandy landings.
This gives the vessel direct historical significance beyond her later association with Greek shipping.
Liberty Ships and Greece
Liberty ships became crucial to the recovery of Greek merchant shipping after the Second World War.
After devastating wartime losses, Greek owners acquired 100 Liberty ships with the backing of the Greek state.
Additional vessels followed, and the ships became closely associated with the foundations of Greece's post-war shipping expansion.
Saving ARTHUR M. HUDDELL
By the early 2000s only a handful of Liberty hulls survived.
A long Greek campaign, strongly associated with shipowner:
Spyros M. Polemis
sought to acquire one of the remaining vessels for preservation.
After political and diplomatic efforts in the United States, Congress enabled the transfer of:
ARTHUR M. HUDDELL
to the Greek government.
Atlantic Tow to Piraeus
The vessel departed the United States under tow on:
6 December 2008.
The tow was undertaken by:
POSEIDON.
After crossing the Atlantic, ARTHUR M. HUDDELL reached:
Piraeus on 11 January 2009.
Restoration in Greece
The vessel arrived in poor condition after decades of inactivity.
Extensive restoration work took place around:
Perama
and:
Salamis.
The process required almost:
two years.
A major contribution from the late:
Captain Vassilis Constantakopoulos
helped make completion of the project possible.
HELLAS LIBERTY
Following restoration, the ship became:
HELLAS LIBERTY.
She was presented to the public in:
2010
as a floating museum devoted to:
Greek merchant shipping,
Liberty ships,
wartime maritime history,
and the Greek shipping recovery after 1945.
More Than 500 Exhibits
The museum contains:
authentic navigational equipment,
communications equipment,
documents,
ship models,
historic machinery,
photographs,
and hundreds of Liberty-related objects.
The museum organisation states that the collection contains more than:
500 exhibits.
One of Only Three
HELLAS LIBERTY is considered one of the world's surviving Liberty museum ships.
Unlike the preserved American Liberty ships:
JEREMIAH O'BRIEN
and:
JOHN W. BROWN,
the Greek vessel is presented primarily in:
merchant rather than wartime armed configuration.
Museum Closure and Future Relocation
The museum has been temporarily closed because its present berth at:
Piraeus Gate E2
is affected by major works connected with the new:
Museum of Underwater Antiquities.
The long-term plan is to relocate HELLAS LIBERTY to the:
Maritime Tradition Park
near the battleship:
GEORGIOS AVEROF
at Faliro.
Temporary Movement in Piraeus
In March 2026, HELLAS LIBERTY was moved within the Port of Piraeus during dredging work and subsequently returned to its previous berth near the old Silo.
The final move toward Faliro had not yet taken place at that stage.
Drydock – June 2026
A significant new chapter in preservation occurred in:
June 2026.
The Hellas Liberty Museum organisation announced successful completion of a scheduled:
drydocking.
The work was described as essential for:
safety,
operational readiness,
and long-term preservation.
This is an important update that should now be included in the PiraeuShips article.
PiraeuShips Record
HELLAS LIBERTY represents a unique link between Piraeus, the Second World War and the post-war rise of Greek merchant shipping. Built in Florida in 1943 as ARTHUR M. HUDDELL, the vessel participated in the wider Allied logistics effort and was adapted to carry equipment for Operation PLUTO following the Normandy landings. Saved from the U.S. reserve fleet decades later, she was donated to Greece, towed across the Atlantic and arrived at Piraeus in January 2009. After an extensive Greek restoration she reopened as HELLAS LIBERTY, a floating museum dedicated to the Liberty ships and the generation of Greek seafarers and shipowners who used them to rebuild the country's merchant fleet. Following another major preservation drydock in June 2026, the ship is awaiting its eventual relocation from Piraeus to the Maritime Tradition Park at Faliro.
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