SHEPHERDS OF THE FLEET
Liberty and Victory ships were good cargo carriers and were ideal for delivering war materiel to our Allies in Europe. The ships, men, and cargo were useless however, if they failed to make it to the ports near the Allied front lines in Europe.
The German Navy was hell-bent on keeping these ships and their war supplies (materiel) from ever making the trip across the Atlantic and therefore, the German military attacked the supply vessels with whatever means they had available.
Wolfpacks of the Kreigsmarine’s U-Boats, the Luftwaffe’s fleet of long-range bombers and German auxiliary cruisers (smaller battleships) all chased down and sank these American Liberty and Victory ships.
But American Merchant Mariners and American naval personnel convoyed their supply ships through attacks and bad weather.
American warships (Fletcher-class Destroyers) worked together with the warships of other Allied nations to continue this maritime conveyor belt of necessary supplies to Europe, Africa, India and Russia, throughout the war in Europe – and beyond.
One of SUNY Maritime’s own professors, Captain Hugh Stephens, was a merchant mariner on the ‘Murmansk Run’ in World War II.
Stephens modestly describes his role in the articles below.
And through his most recent movie, GREYHOUND, actor and producer, Tom Hanks, helps tell the story of Captain Stephens and the convoys, to all the world.
ASSIGNMENT #1
How to successfully complete assignment #1.
MURMANSK RUN – VIDEO (15.09 minutes)
ARTICLE ABOUT SUNY Maritime’s own HUGH STEPHENS
NAVY LEAGUE – ARTICLE ABOUT SUNY Maritime’s own HUGH STEPHENS
• Watch the MURMANSK RUN video.
• READ pages 18-19 of this magazine ‘Professional Mariner’.
• READ the entire NAVY LEAGUE article (about Stephens)
• Now use your notes, and/or review the documentary, to create a 15-question quiz based on the documentaries.
• ONE quiz that covers the salient concepts depicted within both of these documentaries.
• Your quiz questions should be worded in such a way that the answer would demonstrate that the person successfully completing (and passing) your quiz has viewed and understood the basic premises of the documentary.
• You must include the answers with the quiz that you submit.
• The questions and the answers you provide must be in full-sentence format.
ASSIGNMENT #2.
How to successfully complete assignment #2.
MOVIE – GREYHOUND – with Tom Hanks
• Watch the movie GREYHOUND (with Tom Hanks).
• Now use your notes, and/or review the movie, to create a 15-question quiz based on the events in THIS MOVIE.
• Your quiz questions should be worded in such a way that the answer would demonstrate that the person successfully completing (and passing) your quiz has viewed and understood the basic premises of the documentary.
• You must include the answers with the quiz that you submit.
• The questions and the answers you provide must be in full-sentence format.
ASSIGNMENT #3.
How to successfully complete assignment #3.
• Watch all three of these short documentaries.
TOM HANKS’ own critique of GREYHOUND
DOCUMENTARY versus MOVIE
A ‘critique’ of a trailer for GREYHOUND
• Now, in 500 words or more, discuss the historical distortions made by the writers and directors, and the historical and political (not to mention educational) controversies this type of “director’s license” and freedom of expression in “storytelling” may (and did) cause.
BONUS QUESTIONS
• What courses did Captain Stephens teach at SUNY Maritime College?
• In which department of SUNY Maritime did Professor Hugh Stephens teach?
