SS James Caldwell was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II.

She was named after James Caldwell, a Presbyterian minister who played a prominent part in the American Revolution.

The sentry, James Morgan, was hanged for murder on 29 January 1782 in Westfield, New Jersey, amid rumors that he had been bribed to kill the chaplain.

James Caldwell was laid down on 8 August 1942, under a Maritime Commission (MARCOM) contract, MCE hull 915, by the Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard, Baltimore, Maryland; she was sponsored by Mrs. W.G.

Esmond, the wife of the chief naval architect for MARCOM, in Washington DC, and was launched on 19 September 1942.