SS Minnesotan

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SS Minnesotan
SS Minnesotan
History
NameSS Minnesotan
OwnerAmerican-Hawaiian Steamship Company
OrderedSeptember 1911[4]
Builder
Cost$668,000[5]
Yard number124[2]
Launched8 June 1912[3]
Sponsored byLubelle Shepard[3]
CompletedSeptember 1912[2]
IdentificationU.S. official number: 210534[1]
FateExpropriated by U.S. Army, 1 June 1917
United States
NameUSAT Minnesotan
Acquired11 September 1917[6]
FateTransferred to U.S. Navy, 23 August 1918[6]
United States
NameUSS Minnesotan (ID-4545)
Acquired23 August 1918
Commissioned23 August 1918
Decommissioned21 August 1919
FateReturned to American-Hawaiian
Name
  • 1919–49: SS Minnesotan
  • 1949–52: SS Maria Luisa R.
Owner
  • 1919–49: American-Hawaiian Steamship Co.
  • 1949–52: S.A.R.G.A. SpA [1]
Port of registry
  • 1919–49: United States New York
  • 1949–52: Civil Ensign of Italy Genoa
FateScrapped at Bari, 1952
General characteristics
TypeCargo ship
Tonnage6,617 GRT[5] 10,175 LT DWT[5]
Length
Beam53 ft 6 in (16.31 m)[6]
Draft28 ft 1 in (8.56 m)[6]
Depth of hold39 ft 6 in (12.04 m)[8]
Propulsion
Speed14.85 knots (27.50 km/h)[6]
CapacityCargo: 490,838 cubic feet (13,899.0 m3)[5]
Crew18 officers, 40 crewmen
NotesSister ships: Dakotan, Montanan, Pennsylvanian, Panaman, Washingtonian, Iowan, Ohioan[2]
General characteristics (as USS Minnesotan)
Complement88[6]
Armament
  • 1 × 4-inch (100 mm) gun
  • 1 × 3-inch (76 mm) gun[6]

SS Minnesotan was a

Maryland Steel Company as one of eight sister ships for American-Hawaiian, and was employed in inter-coastal service via the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and the Panama Canal
after it opened.

In

Armistice she was converted to a troop transport and returned over 8,000 American troops from France. Returned to American-Hawaiian in 1919, Minnesotan resumed inter-coastal cargo service, and, at least twice, carried racing yachts from the U.S. East Coast
to California.

During World War II, Minnesotan was requisitioned by the War Shipping Administration and initially sailed between both New York and Caribbean ports. In the later half of 1943, Minnesotan sailed between Indian Ocean ports. The following year, the cargo ship sailed between New York and ports in the United Kingdom, before eventually returning to the Caribbean. In July 1949, American-Hawaiian sold Minnesotan to Italian owners who renamed her Maria Luisa R.; she was scrapped in 1952 at Bari.

Design and construction

In September 1911, the

deadweight ton, which totaled just under $668,000.[4]

Minnesotan (Maryland Steel yard no. 124)

Early career

When Minnesotan began sailing for American-Hawaiian, the company shipped cargo from

Tehuantepec National Railway.[9] Eastbound shipments were primarily sugar and pineapple from Hawaii, while westbound cargoes were more general in nature.[10] Minnesotan sailed in this service on the east side of North America.[11][12]

After the

Straits of Magellan.[13] With the opening of the Panama Canal on 15 August 1914, American-Hawaiian ships switched to taking that route.[13]

In October 1915, landslides closed the Panama Canal and all American-Hawaiian ships, including Minnesotan, returned to the Straits of Magellan route again.

chartered for transatlantic service. She may also have been in the group of American-Hawaiian ships chartered for service to South America, delivering coal, gasoline, and steel in exchange for coffee, nitrates, cocoa, rubber, and manganese ore.[15]

World War I

On 11 September 1917, some five months after the United States declared war on

American Expeditionary Force.[6] Although there is no information about the specific conversion of Minnesotan, for other ships this typically meant that passenger accommodations had to be ripped out and replaced with ramps and stalls for the horses and mules carried.[16]

On 23 August 1918, Minnesotan was transferred to the

Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS) the same day. Minnesotan was refitted and rearmed and made a brief roundtrip to New York. After taking on a general cargo, Minnesotan sailed 4 September to join a convoy from New York. After passing Gibraltar on 21 September, the cargo ship sailed on to Marseille and unloaded. Departing there on 21 October, she sailed for Newport News via Gibraltar, arriving back in the United States on 7 November.[6]

USS Minnesotan with returning troops in 1919 at Charleston, South Carolina

Minnesotan next took on a load of 798 horses and sailed on 30 November for Bordeaux, where she arrived on 13 December. Stopping at Saint-Nazaire the following day, Minnesotan departed for Norfolk on 21 December. After making port at Norfolk on 3 January 1919, the cargo ship sailed for New York, where she was inspected and found to be suitable for use as a troop transport. She was transferred to the Cruiser and Transport Force on 7 January and fitted with bunks and living facilities over the next three months.[6]

Sailing from New York on 30 March,

U.S. 28th Infantry Division. George W. Cooper, historian of the 2nd Battalion of the 111th Infantry, reported that even though the fighting had been over for some five months, the fear of striking floating mines necessitated that the men wear life jackets for the first three days at sea.[18] Minnesotan landed her 1,765 troops in New York on 28 April.[19]

On her next journey, Minnesotan loaded some 2,000 men of the 304th Ammunition Train and the

seasickness.[21] The men on board were greatly relieved when land was spotted,[21] and the ship docked at Charleston, South Carolina, on 29 May.[20]

Philadelphia Navy Yard
in August 1919, where she was prepared for decommissioning.

Details of Minnesotan's third journey are not available, but her final journey began by sailing from

Philadelphia Navy Yard to prepare for decommissioning,[23] which took place six days later. She was then returned to American-Hawaiian.[6] Leslie White, later a noted American anthropologist, was a crewman aboard USS Minnesotan.[24]

Interwar years

Minnesotan 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,[25] Minnesotan continued inter-coastal service through the Panama Canal. Hints at cargos she carried during this time can be gleaned from contemporary news reports from the Los Angeles Times. In March 1928, for example, the newspaper reported that Minnesotan sailed from Los Angeles with a $2,500,000 cargo that included raw silk and 1,000 long tons (1,000 t) of copper bullion. The 1,000 bales of silk, picked up in Seattle, were worth $1,000,000 on their own, while the load of copper was reportedly the largest water shipment of Arizona copper to that time. Canned goods, grape juice, and locally grown cotton completed the load.[26] The Los Angeles Times also reported that Minnesotan delivered a then-record 3,000-long-ton (3,000 t) cargo from the East Coast to Los Angeles in October 1930.[27] Minnesotan also carried some less-traditional cargo. In February 1928, she delivered one R-class and four six-meter (twenty-foot) sloops to Los Angeles. The five racing yachts, all from East Coast yacht clubs, arrived to sail in the national championships of six-meter and R-class sloops held 10–18 March.[28][Note 3] Minnesotan delivered two other six-meter sloops for new owners in November 1938.[29]

Minnesotan did have one mishap during the interwar period. On 3 May 1936,

Monomoy Point, Massachusetts.[30] Any damage the freighter sustained must have been minor; the cargo ship sailed from New York for San Francisco two weeks later.[31]

Labor difficulties

Minnesotan played a part in several labor difficulties in the interwar years. In March 1935, the crew of Minnesotan called a

In September 1941, Minnesotan played a peripheral part in a larger protest by union sailors over war bonuses for sailing in the West Indies.[37][38] The SUP struck on Minnesotan and fellow American-Hawaiian ship Oklahoman on 18 September in sympathy with the Seafarers International Organization, which had called a strike on eleven ships a week before.[38] Both of the American-Hawaiian ships were idled while docked in New York.[39] President Franklin D. Roosevelt called on the unions to end the strike three separate times during his press conference on 24 September.[37] Roosevelt's admonition was heeded and both unions ended their strike after the National Mediation Board agreed to address the wartime bonus dispute.[40]

World War II

SS Minnesotan sailed in several transatlantic convoys, like this typical one, seen in 1942.

By January 1941, Minnesotan, though still operated by American-Hawaiian, was engaged in defense work for the U.S. government, sailing to ports in South Africa.

In June 1943, Minnesotan called at Bombay. She sailed in the Indian Ocean between Calcutta, Colombo, and Bandar Abbas through August.[42] On her last recorded sailing in the Indian Ocean, Minnesotan carried steel rails between Colombo and Calcutta.[43] Minnesotan was back in New York by early December, and sailed to Florida and back by the end of the month.[42]

On 29 December, Minnesotan, loaded with a general cargo that included machinery and explosives,

Methil and Loch Ewe, Minnesotan returned to New York in mid March. Minnesotan sailed on another roundtrip to Liverpool in May, but was back in New York by early June. Her last recorded World War II sailings were from New York to Key West, Guantánamo Bay, and Cristóbal, where she arrived in late July 1944.[42]

Later career

After the war's end, American-Hawaiian continued operating Minnesotan for several more years, but in mid-July 1949, the company announced the sale of Minnesotan to Italian owners in a move approved by the United States Maritime Commission several days later.[46][47][Note 5] The sale of Minnesotan was protested by the Congress of Industrial Organizations which urged the United States Congress to intervene and to help retain American Merchant Marine jobs.[47] Nevertheless, Maria Luisa R., the new name of the former Minnesotan, remained with the Italian buyers, S.A.R.G.A. SpA of Genoa, until she was scrapped in 1952 at Bari.[1]

Notes

  1. ^ Maryland Steel had built three ships—Kentuckian, Georgian, and Honolulan—for American-Hawaiian in 1909 in what proved to be a satisfactory arrangement for both companies. See: Cochran and Ginger, p. 358.
  2. ^ Further contracts on similar terms were signed in November 1911 and May 1912 to build four additional ships: Panaman, Washingtonian, Iowan, Ohioan. See: Cochran and Ginger, p. 358, and Colton.
  3. Virginian
    in late March. See: "Shipping news and activities at Los Angeles Harbor". Los Angeles Times. 17 March 1928. p. 13.
  4. ^ At the time of a similar murder of the Chief Engineer of freighter Point Lobos in March 1936, Blaczinsky's case was still open.
  5. ^ American-Hawaiian's 1919 ship Hawaiian was also sold at the same time to Panamanian interests.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Minnesotan (2210534)". Miramar Ship Index. Retrieved 12 January 2009.
  2. ^ a b c d e Colton, Tim. "Bethlehem Steel Company, Sparrows Point MD". Shipbuildinghistory.com. The Colton Company. Archived from the original on 8 October 2008. Retrieved 21 August 2008.
  3. ^ a b c "Hawaiian ship launched". The Christian Science Monitor. 27 January 1913. p. 13.
  4. ^ a b Cochran and Ginger, p. 358.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Cochran and Ginger, p. 365.
  6. ^ .
  7. ^ a b c Cochran and Ginger, p. 357.
  8. ^ "Minnesotan is launched". The Washington Post. 9 June 1912. p. 18.
  9. ^ Hovey, p. 78.
  10. ^ Cochran and Ginger, pp. 355–56.
  11. ^ "American-Hawaiian Steamship Co". Los Angeles Times (display ad). 13 April 1914. p. I-4.
  12. ^ "American-Hawaiian new steamships". The Wall Street Journal. 6 May 1912. p. 6.
  13. ^ a b Cochran and Ginger, p. 360.
  14. ^ Cochran and Ginger, p. 361.
  15. ^ Cochran and Ginger, p. 362.
  16. ^ Crowell and Wilson, pp. 313–14.
  17. ^ a b Gleaves, pp. 258–59.
  18. ^ Cooper, pp. 175–76.
  19. ^ "Eight transports bring 16,729 men". Chicago Daily Tribune. 29 April 1919. p. 5.
  20. ^
    The Atlanta Constitution
    . 30 May 1919. p. 2.
  21. ^ a b Loomis, p. 74.
  22. ^ Smith and Eckman, "Into the Rhineland".
  23. ^ "Picture Data: Photo #: NH 42572". Online Library of Selected Images. Navy Department, Naval Historical Center. 28 June 2004. Archived from the original on 5 October 2008. Retrieved 22 August 2008.
  24. ^ Peace, p. 2.
  25. ^ Cochran and Ginger, p. 363
  26. ^ "Shipping news and activities at Los Angeles Harbor". Los Angeles Times. 17 March 1928. p. 13.
  27. ^ Drake, Waldo (14 October 1930). "Shipping news and activities at Los Angeles Harbor". Los Angeles Times. p. 19.
  28. ^ Lawrence, Edward (12 February 1928). "Eastern craft due next week". Los Angeles Times. p. A3.
  29. ^ Drake, Waldo (11 November 1938). "Shipping news and activities at Los Angeles Harbor". Los Angeles Times. p. 19.
  30. ^ "Freighter runs aground". The New York Times. 3 May 1936. p. 37.
  31. ^ "Shipping and mails". The New York Times. 17 May 1936. p. S12.
  32. ^ Drake, Waldo (8 March 1935). "Shipping news". Los Angeles Times. p. 9.
  33. ^ "Crews return to last three tied-up ships". Los Angeles Times. 27 October 1935. p. 1.
  34. ^ "Riots Precede San Francisco General Strike "Bloody Thursday" – 1934". Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco. Museum of the City of San Francisco. Archived from the original on 6 October 2007. Retrieved 22 August 2008.
  35. ^ "Ship crew fingerprinted in hunt for knife-killer". Los Angeles Times. 24 March 1936. p. 9.
  36. ^ "Heavy cargoes from west coast". The Christian Science Monitor. 8 October 1936. p. 9.
  37. ^ a b "Strike-bound merchant ships must move, Roosevelt warns". The Washington Post. 24 September 1941. p. 16.
  38. ^ a b c "Acts in emergency". The New York Times. 19 September 1941. pp. 1, 15.
  39. ^ "U.S. signs crews for struck ships; one due to sail". The New York Times. 20 September 1941. p. 1.
  40. ^ "Sailors free 25 vessels by ending strike". Chicago Daily Tribune. Associated Press. 25 September 1941. p. 32.
  41. ^ "Sailors tell of fast and heavily armed British mystery ship". Chicago Daily Tribune. 21 January 1941. p. 2.
  42. ^ a b c d e "Port Arrivals/Departures: Minnesotan". Arnold Hague's Ports Database. Convoy Web. Archived from the original on 4 October 2011. Retrieved 21 August 2008.
  43. ^ "Convoy JC.17". Arnold Hague Convoy Database. ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 21 August 2008.
  44. ^ a b "Convoy HX.276". Arnold Hague Convoy Database. ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 21 August 2008.
  45. ^ "Convoy HX.273". Arnold Hague Convoy Database. ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 21 August 2008.
  46. ^ "Shipping News and Notes: Two ships sold abroad". The New York Times. 15 July 1949. p. 39.
  47. ^ a b Horne, George (25 July 1949). "2 Ship transfers protested by CIO". The New York Times. p. 29.

Bibliography

External links