The Battle of the Atlantic Memorial campaign launched its effort to build the £2.5m 15-tonne sculpture, in the shape of a Liberty ship split in two on the city’s Pier Head, in January

Plans to build Britain’s official national monument to the Battle of the Atlantic on Liverpool’s waterfront have won top-level support in the US.

The Battle of the Atlantic Memorial campaign (BOAM) launched its effort to build the £2.5m 15-tonne sculpture, in the shape of a Liberty ship split in two, in January.

And, as a result of the publicity it has now received, offers of help from two significant American organisations the American Merchant Marine Veterans (AMMV) and Project Liberty Ship in Baltimore, Maryland.

BOAM chairman Vice-Admiral Mike Gretton said both organisations reached out after the campaign announced it has received support from British Ambassador to the US, Sir Kim Darroch, for an awareness raising tour to the US in the autumn.

“We are absolutely delighted to make contact with both the AMMV and Project Liberty Ship and see our campaign start to generate momentum,” he said.

“An immediate result is that the British naval attache to America Commodore Martin Connell gave a presentation, on our memorial plans, to the AMMV’s annual convention in St Louis, Missouri on March 17.

“We are hugely grateful to the AMMV for giving us this opportunity to raise awareness.”

He added: “The American intervention was critical to the outcome of the war and it is precisely the efforts of the merchant navy that we want to highlight in our memorial. In that sense our objectives and those of the AMMV and Project Liberty Ship are very closely aligned.” 

For more information on the campaign, sponsorship packages and to make donations visit: www.battleoftheatlantic.org  email: info@battleofatlanticmemorial.org or call:01243 545939