A C2 cargo ship offered more graceful lines and greater individual performance. Producing those qualities required far more work, however, and the United States built only 328 C2s compared with 2,710 Liberties. Liberty designers accepted a less refined ship because it met the necessary transport requirement at producible scale. The comparison turns a question of aesthetic or technical superiority into one of whether a design can satisfy the fleet's actual wartime need.
Chapter · 35:46-38:17
Liberty ships are designed for wartime need, not perfection
The more refined C2 cargo ship illustrates what Liberty designers gave up to obtain useful hulls at wartime scale.