SS John Harvey was a U.S. World War II Liberty ship carrying a secret cargo of mustard gas, whose sinking by German aircraft in December 1943 at the port of Bari in south Italy caused the single (and unintentional) release of chemical weapons in the course of the war by the Allies. The John Harvey was built by the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company in Wilmington, North Carolina, and launched on 9 January 1943. Her Maritime Commission Hull Number was 878, and she was rated as capable of carrying 504 soldiers.