USS Shoshone (ID-1760)

A badly worn photograph of SS Shoshone before her United States Navy service, possibly in 1917 during her inspection by the 5th Naval District
History
Name:
  • Wasgenwald (1912–1917)
  • Shoshone (1917–1919)
  • Manoa (1920–1926)
  • Grunewald (1926–1933)
Owner:
Builder: Bremer Vulkan, Vegesack, Germany
Yard number: 552
Launched: 30 December 1911
Completed: February 1912
Fate: Broken up 1933
United States
Name: USS Shoshone
Namesake: The Shoshone River in Wyoming
Commissioned: 19 February 1919
Decommissioned: 5 August 1919
Identification: ID-1760
Fate: Returned to owners after decommissioning; reentered commercial service
General characteristics
Type: Transport
Tonnage: 4,707 GRT
Length:
  • 367 ft 11 in (112.1 m) oa
  • 353 ft 0 in (107.6 m) pp
Beam: 48 ft 7 in (14.8 m)
Draft: 34 ft 2 in (10.4 m)
Installed power: Quadruple expansion steam engine
Propulsion: 1 screw
Speed: 12.5 knots (23.2 km/h; 14.4 mph)
Capacity: 50 first class
Armament:
  • In American service
    • 1 × 5 in (127 mm) gun
    • 1 × 3 in (76 mm) gun

USS Shoshone (ID-1760) was a transport that served in the United States Navy in 1919. Shoshone (ID-1760), the first United States Navy ship of the name, was built in 1911 by Bremer Vulkan at Vegesack, Germany, and operated as a passenger-cargo ship by the Hamburg-America Line as SS Wasgenwald. Wasgenwald was chartered for World War I service by the United States Army on 26 October 1917 from the Custom House, New York, and used as a depot collier with the name SS Shoshone.

Description

As built, the vessel was 367 ft 11 in (112.1 m) long overall and 353 ft 0 in (107.6 m) between perpendiculars with a beam of 48 ft 7 in (14.8 m) and a draft of 34 ft 2 in (10.4 m). The ship had a gross register tonnage (GRT) of 4,708. The vessel was powered by a vertical quadruple expansion steam engine driving one shaft, giving the vessel a maximum speed of 12.5 knots (23.2 km/h; 14.4 mph).[1][2] As built, the vessel could carry 50 first-class passengers.[3] In United States military service, the vessel was armed with one 5-inch (127 mm)/51 caliber gun and one 3-inch (76 mm)/50 caliber gun.[1]

Service history

Early service

The vessel was constructed in 1911 by Bremer Vulkan at their yard in Vegesack, Germany with the yard number 552.[2] The vessel was launched on 30 December 1911 and named Wasgenwald.[1] The merchant ship was completed in February 1912 and registered in Hamburg.[2] Owned by the German Hamburg-Amerika Line at the onset of World War I, Wasgenwald took shelter at Saint Thomas in the Dutch Virgin Islands.[3] The ship was interned by the United States after they took over the Virgin Islands in March 1917, where the vessel had remained since the outbreak of war.[4] However, before the Virgin Islands could become an American colony, the vessel was purchased from her German owners by the Kerr Navigation Company, renamed Shoshone and registered in New York City.[3]

American military service

The Kerr Navigation Company then chartered the vessel to the United States Army. In October 1917, the vessel was inspected for possible requisition and given the identification number 1760, however was not taken up into immediate service by the United States Navy. The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships believes that the ship was operated on behalf of the Army by the U.S. Shipping Board with a civilian crew until the end of the war.[3] Silverstone states that the ship was used as an Army collier.[1]

Following the end of the war, Shoshone was acquired by the United States Navy for use as a troop transport to return American soldiers from France. The ship was placed in commission as USS Shoshone on 18 February 1919. She was attached to the Cruiser and Transport Force and, between February and July 1919, made two voyages to St. Nazaire, France, returning to the United States with American troops coming home from World War I service in Europe. Shoshone was decommissioned at Norfolk, Virginia on 5 August 1919 and returned to her owner.[3]

Merchant career

In 1920, the vessel was acquired by first the American Interlake Line before the Canada Steamship Lines purchased the vessel and renamed her Manoa and registered her in London. The ship entered service in 1921 and remained with the company until the vessel was sold to Boston Iron & Metal Co of Baltimore, Maryland. Boston Iron & Metal Co in turn sold her back to her original owners, the Hamburg-Amerika Line. The Hamburg-Amerika Line renamed the vessel Grunewald and the ship was registered in Hamburg. Grunewald remained in service until 1933, when the vessel was sold for scrap. The ship was broken up during the first quarter of 1933 at Hamburg by Deutsche Werft.[2]

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 Silverstone (2006), p. 148.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Wasgenwald (2215631)". Miramar Ship Index. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships - Shoshone I
  4. ↑ Williams (2002), p. 49.

References

  • This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
  • Silverstone, Paul H. (2006). The New Navy, 1883–1922. New York City: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-97871-8.
  • Williams, Greg H. (2002). Civil and Merchant Vessel Encounters with United States Navy Ships, 1800–2000. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company Inc. ISBN 0-7864-1155-4.
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