History
United States
Name	Cornelia P. Spencer
Namesake	Cornelia Phillips Spencer
Builder	North Carolina Shipbuilding Company, Wilmington, North Carolina
Yard number	89
Way number	8
Laid down	29 March 1943
Launched	24 April 1943
Out of service	1943
Fate	Sunk in 1943
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	68
Armament	2 × Stern-mounted 3 in (76 mm) deck gun 8 x 20mm AA guns

SS Cornelia P. Spencer (MC contract 911) was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Cornelia Phillips Spencer, an influential writer and journalist in North Carolina during the Reconstruction era.

The ship was laid down by North Carolina Shipbuilding Company in their Cape Fear River yard on March 29, 1943, and launched on April 24, 1943.^[1] She was chartered to the A. L. Burbank & Company, Ltd by the War Shipping Administration.^[2]

Loss

Spencer was sailing unescorted from Aden to Durban when she was struck by three torpedoes from the German submarine U-188. After the first struck, the Naval Armed Guard detachment forced U-188 to submerge with gunfire. A second torpedo struck the stationary vessel an hour later and it began sinking. After the crew had abandoned ship the third torpedo hit it. Survivors were rescued by HMS Relentless and SS Sandown Castle. Some landed on the coast of Somalia.^[3]