SS American (1900)
USS American
| |
History | |
---|---|
Name |
|
Owner | American-Hawaiian Steamship Company |
Port of registry | New York |
Route | Hawaii – New York |
Ordered | 1899[2] |
Builder | Delaware River Iron Shipbuilding and Engine Works |
Cost | $540,000[3] ($425,000 for the ship,[2] $115,000 financing costs) |
Yard number | 308[1] |
Launched | 14 July 1900[1] |
Completed | October 1900[1] |
Identification | U.S. official number: 107591[1] |
Fate | scrapped in Osaka, November 1926[1] |
History | |
United States | |
Name | USS American (ID-2292) |
Commissioned | 25 May 1918[4] |
Stricken | 14 March 1919[4] |
General characteristics | |
Tonnage | 6,861 GRT[3] 8,850 LT DWT[3] |
Displacement | 13,000 long tons (13,200 t)[4] |
Length | |
Beam | 51 ft 2 in (15.60 m) |
Draft | 28 ft (8.5 m) |
Propulsion |
|
Speed | 12 knots (22 km/h)[1] |
Capacity | Cargo: 376,699 cubic feet (10,667 m3)[3] |
Complement | 70 (as USS American) |
Notes | Sister ships: Hawaiian, Oregonian, Californian[3] |
SS American was a steel-hulled, single propeller
American was a little more than 430 feet (130 m) long and 51 feet (16 m)
Taken up for wartime service after the United States entered World War I in April 1917, she completed two round-trip voyages to France without incident. Shortly after the start of her third such voyage, however, she collided with another U.S. Navy vessel,
SS American resumed cargo service with American-Hawaiian after her return from naval service, being renamed Honolulan in 1925. She was sold in 1926 and taken to Osaka where she was broken up sometime after her arrival there in November that same year.
Design and construction
The
American (Delaware River yard no. 308)
Early career
At the start of her American-Hawaiian career, American sailed in scheduled service from New York and
The early American-Hawaiian voyages averaged about 70 days in each direction from New York to San Francisco, which was about 55 days shorter than the typical time required for sailing ships. Insurers initially made the company pay a 6% premium for taking its large ships through the treacherous 300-nautical-mile (560 km) channel in the Straits of Magellan, rather than the safer passage around Cape Horn. But by 1903, American-Hawaiian's safe operation and experience on the route allowed the company to negotiate a 3½% rate, just a ½% surcharge over the standard rate of 3%.[9] The experience on the route also paid off in shorter transit times: American set a record time with a 59-day New York-to-San Francisco passage in 1901. However, typical times for the trip were just over 50 days by 1903.[11]
In May 1905, after two years of negotiations, American-Hawaiian signed a contract with the
After the United States occupation of Veracruz on 21 April 1914 (which found six American-Hawaiian ships in Mexican ports), the Huerta-led Mexican government closed the Tehuantepec National Railway to American shipping. This loss of access, coupled with the fact that the Panama Canal was not yet open, caused American-Hawaiian to return to its historic route of sailing around South America via the Straits of Magellan in late April.[14] With the opening of the Panama Canal on 15 August, American-Hawaiian ships switched to taking that route.[14] In October 1915, landslides closed the Panama Canal and all American-Hawaiian ships, including American, returned to the Straits of Magellan route again.[15]
American's exact movements from this time through early 1917 are unclear. She may have been in the half of the American-Hawaiian fleet that was
In May 1918, the USSB selected American for service carrying
Collision with West Gate
On 4 October, American began her third trip to France in a convoy escorted by the cruiser Denver and headed to Bordeaux. On the night of 6/7 October—noted in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships as "particularly dark and rainy"—the ships were having trouble maintaining their stations in the convoy; American was sailing in the column headed by the convoy's guide ship, Sagua.[18]
At 02:28 on 7 October, while about 250 nautical miles (460 km) south of
American, which was lightly damaged by the collision,[4] reversed her engine to back out of the tangle while West Gate's engine was shut down. After American was completely backed out, West Gate began rapidly settling and was ordered abandoned. A total of seven men from West Gate died in the accident—two when their lifeboat capsized, and a further five that probably died in the initial impact. West Gate's commanding officer, Lt. Cdr. R. B. Vandervoort, and six men he had personally escorted to a life raft were picked up by one of American's lifeboats at 06:00, after some 3½ hours in the water.[18] The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships does not report any casualties on American from the collision.[4]
American proceeded to Halifax, where she had her collision damage repaired over the next six weeks. She departed for
Later career
American resumed cargo service with American-Hawaiian after her return from World War I service. Though the company had abandoned its original Hawaiian sugar routes by this time,[17] American sailed in inter-coastal service through the Panama Canal. In June 1925, American-Hawaiian announced its intent to acquire six steamers from W. R. Grace and Company.[20] Later in the year, American was renamed Honolulan in order to free her name for the newly acquired Santa Barbara.[1][20] In 1926, Honolulan was sold for scrap.[5] She was taken to Osaka, Japan, and was broken up some time after her arrival there in November that same year.[1]
Notes
- ^ Californian had been completed in June 1900.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "American (2107591)". Miramar Ship Index. Retrieved 11 May 2009.
- ^ a b c d Cochran and Ginger, p. 346
- ^ a b c d e f g Cochran and Ginger, p. 364.
- ^ Naval History & Heritage Command. "American". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
- ^ a b c d Cochran and Ginger, p. 357.
- ^ Cochran and Ginger, p. 345.
- ^ a b Colton, Tim. "Merchant Shipbuilding Corp., Chester PA". Shipbuildinghistory.com. The Colton Company. Archived from the original on 10 May 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2009.
- ^ "Californian (2127446)". Miramar Ship Index. Retrieved 11 May 2009.
- ^ a b c Cochran and Ginger, p. 349.
- ^ Cochran and Ginger, p. 348, note 2.
- ^ Cochran and Ginger, pp. 348–349.
- ^ Hovey, p. 78.
- ^ Cochran and Ginger, pp. 355–56.
- ^ a b Cochran and Ginger, p. 360.
- ^ Cochran and Ginger, p. 361.
- ^ Cochran and Ginger, p. 362.
- ^ a b Cochran and Ginger, p. 363.
- ^ a b c Naval History & Heritage Command. "West Gate". DANFS.
- ^ Radigan, Joseph M. (2005). "West Gate (ID 3216)". NavSource Naval History. Retrieved 11 May 2009.
- ^ a b "Pacific Mail S.S. Co". The Wall Street Journal. 11 June 1925. p. 7.
Bibliography
- S2CID 154716297.
- Hovey, Edmund Otis (1907). "The Isthmus of Tehuantepec and the Tehuantepec National Railway". Bulletin of the American Geographical Society. 39 (2). New York: OCLC 2097765.
- Naval History & Heritage Command. "American". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved 11 May 2009.
- Naval History & Heritage Command. "West Gate". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History & Heritage Command. Retrieved 11 May 2009.
External links
- Photo gallery of American at NavSource Naval History