USS Hisko

History
United States
Name	USS Hisko
Namesake	Previous name retained
Builder	Chester Ship Building Company, Chester, Pennsylvania
Launched	15 October 1917
Completed	1917
Acquired	1917
Commissioned	6 December 1917
Decommissioned	1 October 1919
Fate	Returned to United States Shipping Board 1919; scrapped 1948
Notes	Operated commercially by United States Shipping Board as SS Hisko beginning in 1919; renamed SS Beta 1925
General characteristics
Type	Tanker
Tonnage	5,665 gross register tons
Displacement	14,995 tons
Length	401 ft 0 in (122.22 m)
Beam	54 ft 3 in (16.54 m)
Draft	26 ft 0 in (7.92 m) mean
Speed	10 knots
Complement	53
Armament	An unrecorded number and type of guns

USS Hisko (ID-1953) was a tanker that served in the United States Navy from 1917 to 1919.

Service history

SS Hisko was built for the

, Pennsylvania.

Plymouth, England

.

After two short runs from New York City to

, England, through severe winter storms on 12 February 1918. She returned to New York on 8 March 1918.

In the following year and a half, the tanker made eleven similar voyages carrying fuel oil to American ships in such scattered points as

, but Hisko escaped unscathed with her valuable cargo.

Incidents

On 3 May 1918, Hisko departed New York City on a voyage to Plymouth, England. During the night of 12 May 1918, while her convoy was engulfed in dense fog, Hisko radioed that she had been in collision with an unknown vessel. This was probably the cargo ship USS Zaanland, which appears to have collided with Hisko after suffering a steering casualty. Zaanland sank before salvage attempts could begin. Hisko arrived at Plymouth safely on 18 May 1918.

During a return voyage to New York, Hisko was again involved in a collision. On the night of 5–6 September 1918 in high seas and fog, Hisko was in collision with the 3,121-

Later service and fate

In May 1919, Hisko was detached from the

involved in this historic operation.

Hisko returned to New York from her final overseas trip in U.S. Navy service on 28 September 1919. She

Baltimore, Maryland

, in 1948.

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

• Department of the Navy: Naval Historical Center: Online Library of Selected Images: U.S. Navy Ships: USS Hisko' (ID # 1953), 1917-1919. Originally and later the civilian tanker Hisko, later S.S. Beta
• NavSource Online: Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive Hisko (ID 1953)