USS West Bridge
West Bridge in dazzle camouflage shortly before completion in May 1918
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History | |
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United States | |
Name | USS West Bridge (ID-2888) |
Builder |
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Yard number | 11[2] |
Launched | 24 April 1918[1] |
Completed | 26 May 1918[1] |
Acquired | 26 May 1918[3] |
Commissioned | 26 May 1918[3] |
Decommissioned | 1 December 1919[3] |
Identification |
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Fate | Returned to United States Shipping Board |
History | |
Name | |
Namesake | 1945: Mikhail Lermontov |
Owner |
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Operator |
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Port of registry |
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Fate | Scrapped at Split, Yugoslavia, 29 June 1966[1] |
General characteristics | |
Type | Cargo ship |
Tonnage | |
Displacement | 12,200 long tons (12,400 t)[3] |
Length | |
Beam | 54 ft 0 in (16.46 m)[3] |
Draft | 24 ft 1 in (7.34 m) (mean)[3] |
Depth of hold | 29 ft 9 in (9.07 m)[3] |
Propulsion | 1 × |
Speed | 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h)[3] |
Complement | 88 (as USS West Bridge)[3] |
Armament |
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USS West Bridge (ID-2888) was a
West Bridge was one of the West ships, a series of steel-
After seven months of repair, West Bridge resumed Navy service until her December 1919 decommissioning and return to the USSB. She was laid up from 1922 to 1929, when she was sold for service on an intercoastal cargo service under the name Barbara Cates. By 1938, the ship had been renamed Pan Gulf for service with a subsidiary of the
Design and construction
To replace shipping tonnage lost to German submarines during
On 6 August 1917, the
As completed, the steel-
Military career
USS West Bridge (ID-2888) was
After refueling at New York, West Bridge joined Convoy HB-8 bound for France, sailing on 1 August in company with Navy cargo ship
Torpedo attack
At 17:40, West Bridge's engine broke down once again and her crew was unable to repair it. Falling off the back of the convoy and adrift, she signaled Marseillaise to request a tow. At sundown, shortly before 18:00, Montanan—still in the convoy, which was by now 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) ahead of West Bridge—was hit by one of three torpedoes launched by German submarine
Immediately after the attack, Noma sped off to depth charge the submarine while sending an SOS for West Bridge. Destroyer Burrows arrived to take on West Bridge's survivors, who had situated themselves about a mile (2 km) from the still-floating ship. After the survivors boarded the destroyer, a head count revealed that four men were missing, but also turned up two female stowaways.[3]
By the morning of 16 August, both Montanan and West Bridge were still afloat, with decks awash. Attempts to get Montanan under tow failed, and she foundered later in the morning. Meanwhile, Hawkins and his executive officer were taken by boat to West Bridge to assess her situation. After boarding the ship and finding three cargo holds and her engineering spaces completely flooded, Hawkins advised Burrows' captain that the situation was hopeless and he would only be endangering his ship, crew, and the West Bridge survivors by remaining alongside. Consequently, Burrows departed for Brest, France, leaving the destroyer Smith to stand by the stricken vessel.[3]
A volunteer work and salvage party from Smith, led by
The extent of the damage and the condition of West Bridge led to some erroneous reports of her loss. News articles on 24 August in both The New York Times and the Chicago Daily Tribune reported the sinking,[24] and the mistaken information was recorded by authors Benedict Crowell and Robert Forrest Wilson in their work The Road to France: The Transportation of Troops and Military Supplies, 1917–1918.[25]
After West Bridge underwent seven months of repairs, the ship resumed service with the NOTS through 1 December 1919, at which time she was decommissioned and handed over to the USSB.[3]
Interwar years
The United States Official Number 216348 and
In 1934, her Code Letters were changed to KJOO.
In October 1941, The Christian Science Monitor reported that Pan Gulf had become stuck in the mud off Governors Island after her crew misjudged how far to back out of her berth at the Army base there. The first, unsuccessful attempt to free Pan Gulf involved eight tugs, but the ship did not budge. The newspaper, which had also reported that there was no apparent damage to Pan Gulf in the grounding, carried no further reports on the ship.[32]
World War II and later career
After the United States entered World War II, Pan Gulf frequently sailed in convoys on the North Atlantic, as well as some in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. Between April and September 1942, Pan Gulf made two roundtrips from the U.S. to Liverpool.[33] In September, the cargo ship sailed from New York to the Caribbean to take on a load of bauxite in early November,[34] and then sailed on to Galveston, Texas, before returning to New York in mid-February 1943.[33]
In late February, Pan Gulf began the first of a further seven roundtrips to the United Kingdom over the next 21 months, when she sailed from New York in Convoy HX 228 for
On 5 May 1945, the USMC turned over Pan Gulf to the
At war's end, Lermontov remained with FESCO through 1950. At that time she was transferred to the
Notes
- War Ruby. See: McKellar, pp. 283–84.
- ^ The West ships, to avoid sailing empty to the East Coast, loaded grain products intended for the United Kingdom, France, and Italy and sailed to Europe without unloading or transferring their cargo. This avoided extra handling of the cargo and the United States Shipping Board, by prior arrangement, then received an equivalent amount of cargo space in foreign ships for other American cargoes. See: Crowell and Wilson, pp. 358–59.
- Mount Vernon, Conner, and Murray. See: Stringer, p. 147.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "West Bridge (5520680)". Miramar Ship Index. Retrieved 1 September 2008.
- ^ a b Colton, Tim. "J. F. Duthie & Company, Seattle WA". Shipbuildinghistory.com. The Colton Company. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Naval Historical Center. "West Bridge". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
- ^ Register of Ships (1937–38 ed.). "Scan of page 'Ban–Bar'" (PDF). Hosted at plimsollshipdata.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 December 2017. Retrieved 12 May 2009.
- ^ a b c d e f Register of Ships (1938–39 ed.). "Scan of page 'Pam–Pan'" (PDF). Hosted at plimsollshipdata.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 December 2017. Retrieved 12 May 2009.
- ^ Register of Ships (1940–41 ed.). "Scan of page 'Pan'" (PDF). Hosted at plimsollshipdata.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 December 2017. Retrieved 12 May 2009.
- ^ Register of Ships (1944–45 ed.). "Scan of page 'Pan'" (PDF). Hosted at plimsollshipdata.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 December 2017. Retrieved 12 May 2009.
- ^ a b Register of Ships (1945–46, supplementary ed.). "Scan of page 'L'" (PDF). Hosted at plimsollshipdata.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 December 2017. Retrieved 12 May 2009.
- ^ Register of Ships (1943–44 ed.). "Scan of page 'Pan'" (PDF). Hosted at plimsollshipdata.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 December 2017. Retrieved 12 May 2009.
- ^ a b c d e f "Реестр флота ДВМП: Лермонтов (Pan Gulf)" (in Russian). FESCO Transport Group. Retrieved 4 September 2008. Google translation into English.
- ^ a b "Shipping Board approves sale". Los Angeles Times. 27 March 1929. p. 13.
- ^ a b McKellar, p. 270.
- ^ McKellar, pp. 283–84.
- ^ a b c Mitchell & Sawyer, pp. 8–9
- ^ Mitchell & Sawyer, p. ix.
- ^ McKellar, p. 271.
- ^ Crowell and Wilson, pp. 358–59.
- ^ a b Naval Historical Center. "West Alsek". DANFS.
- ^ Mann. "Burrows". DANFS.
- ^ "Montanan (2211088)". Miramar Ship Index. Retrieved 4 September 2008.
- ^ Stringer, p. 54.
- ^ Stringer, p. 137.
- ^ a b Stringer, p. 147.
- ^ "Three of our ships torpedoed; 19 missing from the crews" (PDF). The New York Times. 24 August 1918. p. 1. Retrieved 27 May 2009. "3 U. S. ships in foreign waters sunk by U-boats". Chicago Daily Tribune. 24 August 1918. p. 2.
- ^ Crowell and Wilson, p. 530.
- ^ "Navires a Vapeur et a Moteurs" (PDF). Lloyd's Register. Lloyd's of London. 1930. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 February 2018. Retrieved 26 February 2018 – via Plimsoll Ship Data.
- ^ Drake, Waldo (13 May 1929). "Shipping news and activities at los angeles harbor". Los Angeles Times. p. 14.
- ^ "Steamers & Motorships" (PDF). Lloyd's Register. Lloyd's of London. 1934. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 February 2018. Retrieved 26 February 2018 – via Plimsoll Ship Data.
- The Pittsburgh Courier. p. 23.
- ^ Finch, Ted; Gilbert Provost. "WWI Standard Ships: T". WWI Standard Built Ships. Mariners. Retrieved 4 September 2008.
- ^ de la Pedraja Tomán, p. 564.
- ^ "Stuck in mud craft awaits high tide aid". The Christian Science Monitor. 13 October 1941. p. 2.
- ^ a b "Port Arrivals/Departures: Pan Gulf". Arnold Hague's Ports Database. Convoy Web. Retrieved 4 September 2008.
- ^ "Convoy TAG.18". Arnold Hague Convoy Database. ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 4 September 2008.
- ^ "Aiken scores ship deal". The New York Times. Associated Press. 24 October 1943. p. 38.
Bibliography
- OCLC 18696066.
- de la Pedraja Tomán, René (1994). "Waterman Steamship Corporation". A Historical Dictionary of the U.S. Merchant Marine and Shipping Industry: Since the Introduction of Steam. OCLC 29311518.
- Lloyd's Register of Shipping (1856). Register of Ships(various editions). London: Lloyd's Register of Shipping.
- Mann, Raymond A. (21 November 2005). "Burrows". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved 4 September 2008.
- McKellar, Norman L. (May–June 1962). "Steel Shipbuilding under the U. S. Shipping Board, 1917–1921". The Belgian Shiplover (87). OCLC 5887022.
- Mitchell, W H; Sawyer, L A (1968). British Standard Ships of World War 1. Liverpool: Sea Breezes/Journal of Commerce and Shipping Telegraph.
- Naval History & Heritage Command. "West Alsek". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History & Heritage Command. Retrieved 4 September 2008.
- Naval History & Heritage Command. "West Bridge". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History & Heritage Command. Retrieved 4 September 2008.
- Stringer, Harry R. (1921). The Navy Book of Distinguished Service. Washington, D.C.: Fassett Pub. Co. OCLC 2654351.
External links
- Photo gallery of West Bridge at NavSource Naval History