SS Empire Bittern
Artemis (U.S. Shipping Board Transport, 1917-1919) in port during or immediately after World War I.
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History | |
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Name |
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Namesake | State of Iowa, Kingdom of Bohemia, goddess Artemis, and bittern, a bird |
Owner |
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Operator |
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Port of registry | |
Builder | Harland & Wolff, Belfast |
Yard number | 349 |
Launched | 5 July 1902 |
Completed | 11 November 1902 |
Acquired | by the US Shipping Board in April 1917; allocated to the US Navy 23 February 1919 (USSB ownership) |
Commissioned | 8 April 1919 as USS Artemis (ID-2187) at Hoboken, New Jersey |
Decommissioned | 18 October 1919 at Brooklyn |
Stricken | By the U.S. Navy 18 October 1919 |
Identification |
|
Captured | Seized by the US in 1917 |
Fate | Sunk as a blockship in Normandy in 1944 |
Notes | Laid up about 1923, "abandoned" out of registry 1933, transferred UK 1941. |
General characteristics | |
Type | Cargo ship and livestock carrier |
Tonnage | |
Displacement | 17,837 long tons (18,123 t) |
Length | 500.5 ft (152.6 m) |
Beam | 58.3 ft (17.8 m) |
Draft | 27 ft (8.2 m) |
Depth | 34.0 ft (10.4 m) |
Installed power | 814 NHP |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
Complement |
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Armament |
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Empire Bittern was a steamship, built as a livestock-carrying cargo ship in 1902 at Belfast, Ireland as Iowa for the White Diamond Steamship Company Ltd of Liverpool. The ship was sold to the Hamburg America Line and renamed Bohemia in 1913.
The German ship was seized by
With the World War II emergency in shipping the ship was transferred to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) in 1941, becoming one of the Empire ships, Empire Bittern. The ship was operated for MoWT by Royal Mail Lines Ltd. and made several Atlantic crossings in convoy. In July 1944 Empire Bittern was sunk as a blockship in support of Operation Overlord.
Construction
Iowa was a steel-hulled, cargo steamship, specially fitted for carrying
Commercial service
Iowa was built for the White Diamond Steamship Company Ltd of
Furness Withy considered Iowa too large for their services and sold her in 1913 to the
United States Shipping Board
After the United States entered World War I in April 1917, due to her German registry, Bohemia was seized by American customs authorities.[11] Under a 30 June 1917 Executive Order the United States took possession and title to the seized enemy ships placing them in custody of the United States Shipping Board.[12]
Wartime service
Bohemia was renamed Artemis, armed with a main battery of one 5 in (127 mm) and one 3 in (76 mm) gun, and placed in service as a USSB transport on time charter to the Army with no formal agreement beyond the time charter. The ship was manned by the USSB with full responsibility for operation.[13][note 2]
The ship was the United States Army Chartered Transport (U.S.A.C.T.) Artemis during World War I and for over three months after the war ended, including voyages carrying horses and mules.
The Navy took control of Artemis at Fletcher's Drydock in Hoboken, New Jersey assigning the identification number (ID. No.) 2187 and placed the ship in commission on 8 April 1919 as the second ship bearing the name. The ship was assigned to the Cruiser and Transport Force sailing for France on 25 April reaching St. Nazaire on 8 May. Artemis left France for Newport News, Virginia on 11 May arriving on 24 May. The ship made a second voyage from Norfolk, Virginia on 1 June returning with troops and a cargo of trucks to Newport News arriving on 26 June. A third voyage left Norfolk on 2 July arriving St. Nazaire on 15 July and sailing from Brest on 21 July arriving at Norfolk on 3 August after which the ship underwent voyage repairs at Norfolk from 6–9 August. The ship's fourth and last voyage was to St. Nazaire arriving on 21 August and sailing for the return on 12 September arriving at pier 3, Army Base, Brooklyn on 23 September 1919. Artemis was decommissioned on 18 October 1919 at pier 2, Army Base. During her career as a Navy transport, she had brought home 11,760 troops. Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 18 October, and the ship was returned to the USSB.[11]
Subsequent maritime career
Artemis was repaired and fitted for cargo only use and after additional repair work was allocated to the France and Canada Steamship Corporation for service as an animal transport. At the time of the report, closing 30 June 1920, the ship had made several trans-Atlantic voyages in that capacity.[15]
Laid up by 1923, Artemis remained inactive through the 1930s and into World War II, in the hands of the USSB and its successor, the USMC.[11] The vessel was dropped from the U.S. register in 1933 noted as "Abandoned" defined as abandoned "due to age or deterioration."[16]
World War II
Acquired by the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) in 1941, the ship was renamed Empire Bittern.[7] Her port of registry was London and she was operated under the management of Royal Mail Lines Ltd.[17] Empire Bittern was a member of a number of convoys during World War II.
Convoy HX 189 left Halifax, Nova Scotia on 10 May 1942 and reached Liverpool on 20 May. Empire Bittern was to have joined the convoy, but did not sail, joining the following convoy, HX 190 instead.[18] Convoy HX 190 left Halifax, Nova Scotia on 17 May 1942 and reached Liverpool on 28 May.[19]
On 23 July 1944, as part of Operation Overlord, Empire Bittern was sunk as an additional breakwater ship to reinforce Gooseberry 3 for Mulberry "B" at Gold Beach near Arromanches-les-Bains.[7][20]
Identification
Official numbers are national ship identifiers. Iowa had the British official number 115329 and code letters TRJC until 1913,[21] and then German code letters RTWD.[22] From 1917 Artemis had the US official number 215315 and code letters LHMG.[3] Empire Bittern regained official number 115329 and had the wireless telegraph call sign BCGL.[17]
Footnotes
- ^ Army's owned hulls or bareboat charter under full Army control and operation were termed U.S. Army Transport (USAT) with other chartered hulls during the First World War being distinguished as United States Army Chartered Transport (U.S.A.C.T.). Contemporary references the ship use USACT Artemis. No such prefix was used for allocated ships without Army operation and crews during World War II.
- ^ The Army's JAG determined the Army bore no responsibility for operation of the ship and that USSB was fully responsible.
References
- ^ ISBN 0-946378-38-X.
- ^ a b "1115329". Miramar Ship Index. Retrieved 13 November 2009.
- ^ a b Lloyd's Register of Shipping (PDF). Vol. Steamers and Motorships. Lloyd's Register of Shipping. 1930. Retrieved 13 November 2009 – via Southampton City Council.
- ^ "Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping". Lloyd's Register of Shipping. 1908 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ ISBN 0-905617-70-3.
- ^ "Shipping Intelligence". The Scotsman. No. 18539. Edinburgh. 20 November 1902. p. 9. Retrieved 17 October 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ ISBN 1-85044-275-4.
- ^ "Significant Step by the Hamburg America Line". The Manchester Courier. No. 17871. 14 February 1914. p. 7. Retrieved 17 October 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Ocean Lanes Busy Again". The Hamilton Daily Times. No. LVII/192. Hamilton, ON. 15 August 1914. p. 9. Retrieved 17 October 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "The Fleets at Sea: Ruse of the Flag". The Times. No. 40774. London. 10 February 1915. p. 6.
- ^ a b c d e f Naval History And Heritage Command (23 March 2017). "Artemis II (Id. No. 2187)". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval History And Heritage Command. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
- ^ First Annual Report of the United States Shipping Board (PDF) (Report). Washington, D.C.: United States Shipping Board. 1 December 1920. p. 19. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
- ^ a b Opinions of the Judge Advocate General of the Army (Report). Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. January 1919. pp. 464–465. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
- LCCN 21004109. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
- ^ Fourth Annual Report of the United States Shipping Board (PDF) (Report). Washington, D.C.: United States Shipping Board. 1 December 1920. pp. 127–128. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
- . Retrieved 16 October 2021.
- ^ a b Lloyd's Register of Shipping (PDF). Vol. Steamers and Motorships. Lloyd's Register of Shipping. 1941. Retrieved 13 November 2009 – via Southampton City Council.
- ^ "Convoy HX 189". Warsailors. Retrieved 13 November 2009.
- ^ "Convoy HX 190". Warsailors. Retrieved 13 November 2009.
- ^ "Les Epaves des Mulberry – Gooseberry 3 – Gold Beach". Naufrages & Epaves au Ponant – Société d'Archéologie et de Mémoire Maritime. 30 October 2017. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
- ^ Mercantile Navy List. London. 1910. p. 251. Retrieved 15 October 2021 – via Crew List Index Project.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ "Lloyd's Register of Shipping". Lloyd's Register of Shipping. 1914 – via Internet Archive.
External links
- NavSource Online: USS Artemis (ID 2187) – ex-USAT Artemis
- USS Artemis (ID # 2187), 1919-1919. Previously U.S. Army Transport Artemis (1917-1919)
- Department of the Navy Naval Historical Center: World War I Era Transports -- with One Smokestack and Five or Six Masts
- The D-Day Battlefields – The Mulberry Harbours
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.