SS Admiral Halstead

Last updated
Aerial Starboard Side View of the US Cargo Vessel SS Admiral Halstead-AWM 302848.png
Aerial starboard side view of the U.S. cargo vessel Admiral Halstead. (Australian War Memorial)
History
Name
  • Suwordenco
  • Admiral Halstead
Owner
  • Submarine Boat Corporation (1922—1930)
  • Pacific Steamship Company (1930-1936)
  • Pacific Lighterage (1936-1947)
  • Pacific Mail Steamship Company (1947-1949)
Operator
  • Transmarine (1922—1930)
  • Pacific Steamship Company (1930-1936)
  • Pacific Lighterage (1936-1947)
  • Pacific Mail Steamship Company (1947-1949)
Port of registryNew York, New York
Builder Submarine Boat Corporation, Newark, New Jersey
Yard number142
Launched22 October 1920
CompletedNovember 1920
Identification
  • Official number: 220862
  • Call letters: MCBK
FateBroken up 1949
General characteristics
TypeEFC Design 1023, postwar commercial completion
Tonnage
Displacement7,615 tons
Length
  • 335 ft 6 in (102.3 m) LOA
  • 334 ft (101.8 m) B.P.
Beam46 ft (14.0 m)
Draft23 ft (7.0 m)
Depth28 ft 6 in (8.7 m) molded
Installed power2 Babcock & Wilcox water tube boilers
PropulsionWestinghouse steam turbine
Speed10.5 kn (12.1 mph; 19.4 km/h)

SS Admiral Halstead was a merchant ship built in 1920 by the Submarine Boat Corporation, Newark, New Jersey, and operating originally as Suwordenco. The ship's history illustrates the state of the industry as the massive World War I shipbuilding program transitioned to an effort to sell and operate hulls in a market glutted by wartime shipbuilding. By the outbreak of World War II Suwordenco was one of the few ships operating as its owners went bankrupt. The ship was bought for operation from the Puget Sound to California ports until it was caught up in the prelude to the United States' entry into the war. [1]

Contents

The ship played a role in the effort to support the Philippines, finding itself in the Pensacola Convoy that was diverted to Australia. The convoy reached Brisbane on 22 December 1941 with Admiral Halstead being placed under U.S. Army charter that day to be operated by its company, the Pacific Lighterage Corporation. The convoy provided the base for the United States Army buildup in Australia. Admiral Halstead was sent to northern Australia arriving at Darwin to be present when the port was bombed on 19 February 1942. The ship came under attack along with the transports of the Timor Convoy escorted by USS Houston and other ships in port. Admiral Halstead was damaged and the crew abandoned but returned and over the next five days, working at night and moving to an anchorage by day, unloaded some 8,000 drums of the cargo of aviation gasoline.

Construction

Submarine Boat Corporation, Newark, New Jersey, had operated the Newark yard to build Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) Design 1023 ships designed by Theodore E. Ferris for the United States Shipping Board (USSB) with thirty-two hulls cancelled as the war ended. [2] After the war the USSB agreed to sell the yard to the operator after paying rent for three years and selling steel on hand at half the original cost. [3] Those thirty-two ships were then completed on Submarine Boat's own account. Suwordenco, yard number 142, was launched on 22 October 1920 and completed in November 1920. [4] [2] The name was a construct given to all thirty-two ships. It was formed by a standard prefix "Su" and suffix "co" from Submarine Boat Corporation with an intervening "word" based on a person, place or company. Suwordenco was named for company general manager B. L. Worden. [4] [5] The ship, assigned official number 220862 and call letters MCBK, was registered in New York, New York operated by Submarine Boat's shipping subsidiary, Transmarine. [2] [5] [6]

The standard ship's specifications were for a 3,545  GRT, 5,350  DWT ship of 335 ft 6 in (102.3 m) length overall, 334 ft (101.8 m) length between perpendiculars, 46 ft (14.0 m) molded beam, 28 ft 6 in (8.7 m) molded depth, loaded displacement of 7,615 tons with a draft of 23 ft (7.0 m). Ship's power for propulsion and auxiliaries was steam from two Babcock & Wilcox oil fired water tube boilers. Propulsion was by a Westinghouse steam turbine providing 1,500 shaft horsepower that could propel the ship at 10.5 kn (12.1 mph; 19.4 km/h). Five cargo holds had a bale capacity of 226,150 cubic feet (6,403.9 m3), and a grain capacity of 269,600 cubic feet (7,634.2 m3). Bunker capacity of 301,970 US gallons (1,143,100 l) gave a range of over 18,000 nmi (21,000 mi; 33,000 km). [7]

Submarine Boat went into receivership in 1930 with its Transmarine operating subsidiary ceasing operations. Suwordenco, the last operating ship, arrived in the port of San Pedro, California on 13 January 1930 with an uncertain future. [8] Suwordenco was sold later in 1930 to operate with the Admiral Line of the Pacific Steamship Company and renamed Admiral Halstead. [note 1] [2] [9] [10] After renovation by the Moore Dry Dock Company, Oakland, California, the ship was put on the Puget Sound — California route. [11] In 1936 the ship was sold to Pacific Lighterage. [2]

The company's main routes were from Alaska to California but it had some service into the Pacific to the Philippines. Admiral Halstead was on such service in May 1939 when it lent assistance to the effort to get the USS U. S. Grant off a reef at Guam. [12]

World War II

Pacific Lighterage's Admiral Halstead entered the war as part of the Pensacola Convoy that departed Honolulu on the way to the Philippines. The ship's cargo was approximately 3,000 drums of aviation gasoline. [13] [14] [note 2] The convoy, avoiding the Japanese Mandate island areas with a route southwest, had crossed the Equator on 6 December and received the news of war the morning of 7 December 1941. The convoy arrived at Brisbane on 22 December. [14] [15] On arrival Admiral Halstead was placed under U.S. Army charter with Pacific Lighterage as operator. [16] The ship became part of the Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA) Australian based permanent local fleet on 31 December 1941 assigned the local identification number X-3. [17]

The ship arrived in Darwin on 18 February 1942 loaded with 14,000 drums of aviation gasoline destined for the Philippines. [18] [19] On 19 February 1942 Japanese aircraft attacked the port, surrounding installations, and other ships in the port and area. Those ships included ships of the Timor convoy [note 3] that had been escorted by USS Houston and turned back by air attacks. Admiral Halstead was strafed and near bomb misses sprung plates causing some flooding. [19] [20] The crew abandoned ship but returned to bring the ship in to unload the critical aviation gasoline cargo over a number of nights and going offshore to during the day. [21] The crew of the heavily damaged and beached Portmar was drafted to unload the cargo. At one point, after objecting that the troops and Australian stevedores were idle and not so engaged, they were held under arrest. [22]

Admiral Halstead remained with the SWPA permanent local fleet until August 1945. [17]

Post war

Admiral Halstead was delivered for commercial operation to Pacific Lighterage at San Francisco on 2 March 1946. [16] The company became Pacific Mail Steamship Company in 1947 with the ship operating with that line until broken up in 1949. [2]

See also

Footnotes

  1. The name is likely in honor of Rear Admiral Alexander S. Halstead, commander of U.S. Naval Forces in France during the WW I. He directed the return of troops after the war.
  2. Cargo of the three civilian vessels is described in Mayo as "loaded with general civilian cargo for merchants in Guam and the Philippines" but other references are clear that Bloemfontein carried crated P-40s, munitions and passengers while Admiral Halstead had drummed aviation gasoline that after arrival at Brisbane and apparently augmented ended up at Darwin the day before the Japanese attack on that port.
  3. Some references have Admiral Halstead as a part of the Timor Convoy escorted by USS Houston. The official references are specific about the ships in that convoy: U.S. transports Mauna Loa and Meigs; Australian transports Tulagi and Portmar.

Related Research Articles

USS <i>Hugh L. Scott</i> (AP-43)

USS Hugh L. Scott (AP-43) was a Hugh L. Scott-class transport ship. She was built in 1921 and spent 20 years in merchant service as a passenger and cargo liner. In July 1941 the ship was delivered to the United States Department of War for Army service as the United States Army Transport Hugh L. Scott operating in the Pacific. In August 1942 the ship was transferred to the United States Navy for conversion to an attack transport, served as a troopship in Operation Torch in November 1942, and was sunk by a U-boat four days later. 59 crewmen and soldiers died during the sinking.

SS <i>President Cleveland</i> (1920)

SS President Cleveland was originally built as Golden State for the United States Shipping Board (USSB), one of the planned World War I troop transports converted before construction into passenger and cargo vessels launched as Emergency Fleet Corporation Design 1029 ships first known, along with the smaller Design 1095 versions, in the trade as "State" ships due to names assigned for the nicknames of states and later as "535s" for their length overall. Almost all ships of both designs were renamed for United States presidents by May 1921, with Golden State being renamed President Cleveland. As one of the USSB-owned ships operated by agents of the board, President Cleveland was allocated to and operated by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company until sold by the USSB to the Dollar Steamship Line in 1925. After the demise of that line and creation of a new, replacement line, American President Lines, the ship remained with that line until government acquisition for the Second World War.

USS <i>Henry T. Allen</i> (APA-15)

USS Henry T. Allen was built as Wenatchee for the United States Shipping Board (USSB), one of the planned World War I troop transports converted during construction into passenger and cargo vessels, the Emergency Fleet Corporation Design 1029 ships. The ship was laid down as C. M. Schwab and perhaps assigned the name Beaver State at one point, but renamed Wenatchee before launch and one of only a few of the design not taking a state nickname. Originally Wenatchee was operated by the USSB's agents, the Pacific Steamship Company. A mass renaming in the spring of 1921 of all the Design 1095 and Design 1029 ships that had been constructed from keel laying on as passenger and cargo ships with state nicknames as names, the "State" ships, the ship became President Jefferson. The ship was in commercial service until laid up in 1938.

SS <i>Empire Miniver</i> British steam merchant ship

The SS Empire Miniver was a British steam merchant ship. She was originally an American merchant, launched in 1918 as SS West Cobalt. During a brief stint in the United States Navy in 1919, she was known as USS West Cobalt (ID-3836).

SS <i>Empire Bittern</i>

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 Amerika Linie and renamed Bohemia in 1913.

USS Majaba (AG-43/IX-102) was the Design 1049 cargo ship Meriden built in 1919 by the Albina Engine & Machine Works, Portland, Oregon. All the ships were requisitioned by the United States Shipping Board (USSB) for World War I service. The ship was bought by the E. K. Wood Lumber Co., of San Francisco, California in 1923 and renamed El Capitan. The ship was chartered by the U.S. Navy through the War Shipping Administration (WSA) in April 1942 and commissioned as Majaba.

<i>Seisho Maru</i> Cargo ship for Mitsui Bussan Kaisho (1918)

Seisho Maru was a cargo ship for Mitsui Bussan Kaisho in military service that was sunk by an American submarine during World War II. The ship had been built as SS West Caruth, a cargo ship for the United States Shipping Board (USSB) shortly after the end of World War I. Shortly after completion, the ship was inspected by the United States Navy for possible use as USS West Caruth (ID-2850) but was neither taken into the Navy nor ever commissioned under that name. Before being sold to Japanese owners in 1928, she was also known as SS Exmoor and SS Antonio Tripcovich.

SS <i>Mauna Loa</i> American cargo ship

SS Mauna Loa was a steam-powered cargo ship of the Matson Navigation Company that was sunk in the bombing of Darwin in February 1942. She was christened SS West Conob in 1919 and renamed SS Golden Eagle in 1928. At the time of her completion in 1919, the ship was inspected by the United States Navy for possible use as USS West Conob (ID-4033) but was neither taken into the Navy nor commissioned.

USS <i>West Lianga</i> (ID-2758) Cargo ship for the United States Navy

USS West Lianga (ID-2758) was a cargo ship for the United States Navy during World War I. She was later known as SS Helen Whittier and SS Kalani in civilian service under American registry, as SS Empire Cheetah under British registry, and as SS Hobbema under Dutch registry.

USS <i>West Ekonk</i> (ID-3313) Cargo ship in the United States Navy

USS West Ekonk (ID-3313) was a cargo ship for the United States Navy during World War I. She was later known as SS West Ekonk in civilian service under American registry, and as SS Empire Wildebeeste under British registry.

USS <i>West Haven</i> (ID-2159)

USS West Haven (ID-2159) was a steel–hulled freighter that saw service with the U.S. Navy during World War I, and which later saw convoy service during the Battle of the Atlantic in World War II.

SS <i>Antilles</i> (1906)

SS Antilles was an American passenger-cargo ship launched in 1906. Chartered by the U.S. Army in 1917 for use as a troop transport ship, Antilles was sunk by a German U-boat on 17 October 1917, resulting in the loss of 67 lives. At the time of its destruction the Antilles sinking represented the largest single greatest loss of American lives to that point in World War I.

SS President Taft was launched as one of the "state" ships, Buckeye State, completed by the United States Shipping Board as cargo passenger ships after originally being laid down as troop transports. Buckeye State had been laid down as Bertrice but was converted and renamed before launching. Originally assigned to the Matson Navigation Company as the Shipping Board's agent, the ship was later renamed President Taft and assigned to Pacific Mail Steamship Company for operation. In 1925 the Shipping Board sold the ship to Dollar Steamship Company. President Taft was operated by Dollar and then its successor American President Lines until requisitioned by the War Department on 17 June 1941.

Portmar was a United States-flagged merchant vessel that was constructed in response to World War I, operated by a succession of companies in the interwar period, then taken up for wartime shipping in World War II.

USS <i>Radnor</i>

USS Radnor (ID-3023) was a cargo ship and later troop transport that served with the United States Navy in 1918–19, during and shortly after World War I. The ship later went into merchant service, and in 1948 under Chinese ownership reportedly became the first all-Chinese ship to visit South America. Radnor was originally ordered as SS War Indian by a private company, but with U.S. entry into World War I in April 1917, she was requisitioned by the U.S. Navy for use as a cargo ship. Commissioned as USS Radnor (ID-3023) in May 1918, the ship spent the remainder of the war transporting cargoes for the Navy. After the war, USS Radnor was converted into a troop transport and used to repatriate U.S. troops home from France.

Antinous was a Design 1015 ship steam cargo ship built in 1919–1920 by Guy M. Standifer Construction Company of Vancouver for the United States Shipping Board as part of the wartime shipbuilding program of the Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) to restore the nation's Merchant Marine. The vessel was chiefly employed on the Gulf to Europe routes throughout her career. In September 1942, while on a passage to British Guiana to load her cargo, she was torpedoed and sunk by German submarines operating at the time in the Caribbean.

Design 1023 ship

The Design 1023 ship was a steel-hulled cargo ship design approved for mass production by the United States Shipping Board's (USSB) Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) in World War I. Like many of the early designs approved by the EFC, the Design 1023 did not originate with the EFC itself but was based on an existing cargo ship designed by Theodore E. Ferris for the United States Shipping Board (USSB). The ships, to be built by the Submarine Boat Corporation of Newark, New Jersey, were the first to be constructed under a standardized production system worked out by Ferris and approved by the USSB.

Submarine Boat Company Shipyard in Newark, New Jersey, United States

Submarine Boat Company was a large-scale World War I ship manufacturing shipyard, located at Newark, New Jersey's Port of Newark. Submarine Boat Company operated as a subsidiary of the Electric Boat Company, now General Dynamics Electric Boat. Submarine Boat Company was founded in April 1915 to meet the demand for ships for World War I. Submarine Boat Corporation built the Design 1023 ships, this was a steel-hulled cargo ship. Submarine Boat Company built merchant cargo ships from 1917 to 1922. Submarine Boat Company was to able to complete ships quickly as they had other shipyards prefabricate about 80% of the hull. Submarine Boat Company worked with: Merchant Shipbuilding Corporation in Bristol, Pennsylvania, and American International Shipbuilding, in Hog Island, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During World War I, at its peak, the shipbuilding the company employed 25,000 people. The Submarine Boat Company received a 150 shipbuilding contract from the United States Shipping Board (USSB)'s Emergency Fleet Corporation, and 118 ships were completed before the contract was canceled. Submarine Boat Company built and sold the last 32 ships on their own for the Transmarine shipping line. After the war in 1920, Submarine Boat built 30 206-ton barges for Transmarine. With no more contracts, the shipyard closed in 1922 and the company went into receivership in 1929. For World War II the shipyard was reopened by Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company. Federal Shipbuilding operated its main shipyard 2.8 miles (4.5 km) north of the Submarine Boat Company shipyard, where Uncommon Carrier Inc. in Kearny, New Jersey is now located. The location of the former Submarine Boat Company shipyard is at the Toyota Logistics Services Inc. automobile terminal, 390 E. Port Street, Newark, just south of Interstate 78. Notable ships: SS Mopang, SS Admiral Halstead, SS Coast Trader and SS Coast Farmer.

SS <i>Coast Trader</i>

SS Coast Trader was built as the cargo ship SS Holyoke Bridge in 1920 by the Submarine Boat Company in Newark, New Jersey. The Coast Trader was torpedoed and sank 35 miles (56 km) south west of Cape Flattery, off the Strait of Juan de Fuca in U.S. state of Washington by the Japanese submarine I-26. Survivors were rescued by schooner Virginia I and HMCS Edmundston. She rests on the ocean floor at.

References

Bibliography