Torpedoed by Japanese aircraft and damaged on May 24, 1945, but not finished. The Liberty ship William B.
Allison was towed to Okinawa and declared a total loss. The ship had been laid down on Feb. 8, 1943, launched
on Mar. 8, 1943 and delivered on Mar. 24, 1943, only forty-four days to build.

She and others like her helped win the war in the Pacific by providing the supplies the Allies needed to defeat
the Japanese. After the torpedo attack she was acquired by the U.S. Navy for use as a floating supply ship and
renamed by the Chief of Naval Operations USS Inca IX-229 on Aug. 6, 1945. The number was painted on her
hull and the Navy called her Inca, however there had been a mistake.

About the same time the William B. Allison was being acquired the Navy was trying to acquire another Liberty ship named Henry L. Abbott, which had been damaged by a mine in the Philippines on May 5. It was soon
discovered the Abbott was not suited for the purpose the Navy had in mind so the Chief of Naval Operations
decided against accepting her, the name that was to be assigned was Gamage IX-227. The CNO wrote to the
War Shipping Board and rescinded the request for the Abbott and assigned the name Gamage to the William B.
Allison, a fact which went overlooked by the Navy at Okinawa. It was not until the war was over that the
confusion over the name came to light.

The Navy and those who served on her knew her only as Inca, the Gamage was never mentioned in the official
communications of the Navy. After two typhoons she was resting on the bottom of Buckner Bay, half full of
water, the ship was finally sold under the name William B. Allison to a Chinese ship breaker and scrapped in
1948.

The torpedo attack of May 24 cost the lives of six Merchant Marines.