High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The SS William A. Graham was a World War II Liberty ship built in Wilmington, North Carolina. One of 2,700 cargo ships produced during an emergency shipbuilding program, the Graham was named for William Alexander Graham, a 19th century governor of North Carolina and a U.S. Secretary of the Navy. Constructed in eight weeks, the 441-foot steamship was launched on July 26, 1942 and operated by J.H. Winchester & Co. of New York. On her maiden voyage carrying Lend Lease supplies to Karachi, the Graham narrowly evaded a wolf pack of German submarines off Cape Town in October 1942. The ship had a second close encounter with the enemy in June 1944, when German bombers attacked the harbor at Anzio where the Graham lay at anchor with six other merchantmen.