SS West Humhaw
SS West Humhaw shortly after launch on 28 August 1918 and before the completion of her superstructure.
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History | |
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Name | SS West Humhaw |
Operator |
|
Builder | Skinner & Eddy |
Yard number | 30 (USSB #1183) |
Laid down | 27 June 1918 |
Launched | 28 August 1918 |
Acquired | 14 September 1918 |
Commissioned | 16 September 1918–27 January 1919 |
In service | 16 September 1918–8 November 1942 |
Fate | Torpedoed and sunk by Takoradi, Ghana , 8 November 1942 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Design 1013 cargo ship |
Tonnage | 5,600 gross, 8,800 dwt |
Displacement | 12,225 tons |
Length |
|
Beam | 54 ft (16 m) |
Draft | 24 ft 2 in (7.37 m) |
Depth of hold | 29 ft 9 in (9.07 m) |
Installed power | 1 × Curtis geared turbine |
Propulsion | Single screw |
Speed | 11.5 kn (21.3 km/h) |
Complement |
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Armament |
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SS West Humhaw was a steel–hulled cargo ship built in 1918 as part of the United States Shipping Board's emergency World War I shipbuilding program.
The ship was delivered just weeks before the end of the war and immediately commissioned into the
With the outbreak of World War II, West Humhaw participated in a small number of
Construction and design
West Humhaw was built in
West Humhaw had a design
Service history
Immediately on completion, West Humhaw was turned over to the U.S. Navy on 13 September,
Loading a full cargo of
On 27 January, a few days after her return to the U.S., West Humhaw was decommissioned, struck from the Navy List, and returned the same day to the United States Shipping Board.[4]
Interwar years
Following her decommissioning, West Humhaw was quickly placed into merchant service by the USSB as SS West Humhaw. The vessel's movements in the interwar period are poorly documented, but it appears that the ship was initially placed into
West Humhaw was eventually turned over to the
World War II
Following the outbreak of World War II, West Humhaw like most other U.S. merchant ships was fitted with some defensive armament, which in West Humhaw's case included a 4-inch gun, two 20mm
With America's entry into the war in December 1941, West Humhaw soon found herself part of the Allied convoy system. In July–August 1942, West Humhaw participated in convoys sailing from Trinidad to New York via Key West, Florida. In September, the ship returned in convoy to Trinidad via Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. From this point the ship appears to have proceeded independently to Freetown, Sierra Leone, on her way to Lagos, Nigeria.[9]
On her way to Freetown, West Humhaw came across a lifeboat on 13 October, containing 18 survivors from another ship of the American-West African Line,
Loss
On 4 November 1942, West Humhaw, laden with a cargo of 2000 tons of lubricating oil and 3,915 tons of general cargo, including cable drums and trucks as deck cargo, departed Freetown with a small escorted convoy of three ships, bound for
References
- ^ "General Cargo Ships Built in Pacific Coast Shipyards" Archived 22 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine, shipbuildinghistory.com.
- ^ Pacific Ports Annual, pp. 64-65.
- ^ Hurley, p. 93. Note that Hurley does not specifically mention West Humhaw in his list of fastest-built ships, but at 79 calendar days the vessel would, according to Hurley's list, have been the equal fourth fastest-built ship of the war.
- ^ a b c d e f g West Humhaw Archived 3 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Naval History and Heritage Command website.
- ^ a b Silverstone, p. 169.
- ^ Note: DANFS says the vessel was handed over to the Navy on 13 September but Skinner & Eddy stated that the date of delivery was 14 September (see Pacific Ports Annual pp. 64-65). The reason for this apparent discrepancy is not known but the DANFS date on which "the ship was taken over by the Navy" has been given here.
- ^ a b Ellis Island Ship Database - West Humhaw[permanent dead link], ellisislandrecords.org.
- ^ a b Allied Ships hit by U-boats - West Humhaw, uboat.net.
- ^ Arnold Hague Convoy Database, convoyweb.org.uk. Click on the "Ship Search" link and enter Humhaw which should bring up a list of wartime convoys in which West Humhaw is known to have participated.
- ^ Allied Ships hit by U-boats - John Carter Rose, uboat.net.
- ^ Bunker 2006, p. 137.
- ^ Bunker 1972 (extract).
- ^ Note: DANFS states that the attacking sub was U-163 but uboat.net and other sources affirm that the attacker was U-161.
Bibliography
- Bunker, John (2006): Heroes in Dungarees: The Story of the American Merchant Marine in World War II, p. 137, Naval Institute Press, ISBN 978-1-59114-099-3.
- Bunker, John (1972): Liberty ships,: The ugly ducklings of World War II, Naval Institute Press.
- Hurley, Edward N. (1920): The New Merchant Marine, p. 93, The Century Co., New York.
- Pacific Ports Inc. (1919): Pacific Ports Annual, Fifth Edition, 1919, pp. 64–65, 402–405, Pacific Ports Inc.
- Silverstone, Paul H. (2006): The New Navy, 1883-1922, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-97871-2.