SS Ophir

Last updated

Ophir NH-99588.jpg
Ophir with Dutch neutrality markings
in the First World War
History
Netherlands
NameOphir
Namesake Ophir
Owner Rotterdamsche Lloyd
Operator
Port of registry Flag of the Netherlands.svg Rotterdam
Route
Builder Kon Maats 'De Schelde'
Yard number112
Laid down30 November 1903
Launched27 August 1904
Completed14 November 1904
Acquiredby US Govt, 21 March 1918
Commissionedinto US Navy, 25 March 1918
Decommissioned16 January 1920
Identification
FateGutted by fire 1918, scrapped 1922
General characteristics
Type ocean liner
Tonnage4,726  GRT, 1,005  NRT, 4,650  DWT
Length394.4 ft (120.2 m)
Beam47.1 ft (14.4 m)
Depth27.2 ft (8.3 m)
Decks3
Installed power521 NHP, 3,600 ihp
Propulsion
Speed14 knots (26 km/h)
Capacitypassengers: 60 × 1st class, 32 × 2nd class, 24 × 3rd class and 30 × steerage
Sensors and
processing systems
by 1910: submarine signalling
Armament
Notes sister ships: Wilis, Rindjani

SS Ophir was a Dutch steamship that was built in 1904. She carried passengers, cargo and mail between Rotterdam and the Dutch East Indies until March 1918, when the United States seized her under angary and she became USS Ophir (ID-2800). In November 1918 a fire and explosion damaged her beyond economic repair. She was scrapped in 1922.

Contents

Building

Between 1903 and 1906 Koninklijke Maatschappij 'De Schelde' in Vlissingen built three sister ships for Rotterdamsche Lloyd. Ophir was built as yard number 112. She was laid down on 30 November 1903, launched on 27 August 1904, undertook her sea trials on 8 November, and was completed on 14 November. [1] She was followed by Wilis, launched in 1905, and Rindjani, launched in 1906. [2] [3]

Ophir's registered length was 394.4 ft (120.2 m), her beam was 47.1 ft (14.4 m) and her depth was 27.2 ft (8.3 m). [4] Her tonnages were 4,726  GRT, 1,005  NRT and 4,650  DWT. She had berths for 146 passengers: 60 first class, 32 second class, 24 third class, and 30 steerage. [1]

Ophir had a single screw, driven by a three-cylinder triple-expansion steam engine. The engine was rated at 521 NHP [4] or 3,600 ihp, and gave her a speed of 14 knots (26 km/h). [1]

Rotterdamsche Lloyd service

Rotterdamsche Lloyd registered Ophir at Rotterdam. Her code letters were PNLC. By 1910 she was equipped for submarine signalling and wireless telegraphy. [4] By 1913 her wireless call sign was MRJ, but by 1914 it had been changed to PFB. [5] [6]

Ophir's peacetime route between Rotterdam and the Dutch East Indies was via the Strait of Gibraltar and Suez Canal. In the First World War the Netherlands were neutral, but Rotterdamsche Lloyd re-routed Ophir via the Cape of Good Hope to avoid hostilities in the Mediterranean. In 1916 the route was changed again, and Ophir went via the Panama Canal. Early in 1918 her route was shortened to San FranciscoJava. [7]

US Navy service

On 20 March 1918 President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation seizing all Dutch merchant ships in ports of the USA and its territories. The next day Ophir was taken over at Honolulu, and on 25 March she was commissioned as USS Ophir, with the ID number ID–2800. Her commander was Lieutenant Commander MP Nash, USNRF. [8]

Ophir was armed with one 6-inch/50-caliber gun and one 4-inch/50-caliber gun. [9] She was assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service. On 2 April 1918 she left Pearl Harbor for the Panama Canal. On 14 May she reached New York. She then made three transatlantic round trips between the USA and France. [8]

On the first voyage she left New York on 1 June with four other ships and reached La Pallice on 7 or 9 June. As well as cargo, she carried sailors, tugboat men, and 500 sacks of mail. She returned to New York via Verdun, Quebec, where she called on 27 June. [10]

Fire and sinking

On 25 October, Ophir started a fourth transatlantic voyage from the East Coast of the United States. [8] Her cargo included coal, drums of "aviation oil" (possibly castor oil), ambulances, and five Jeffery Quad trucks. [10] On 1 November, an ensign of her ship's company died of Spanish flu. [11] On 8 November Ophir left Gibraltar for Marseille. [8] But fire was discovered aboard, thought to be in the lower part of her number two hold, in which she was carrying about 500 tons of coal. She turned back, re-entered Gibraltar on the evening of 10 November, and anchored off the North Mole. [10]

Ophir on fire in Gibraltar in November 1918 Cargo ship USS Ophir (ID 2800) burning at Gibraltar in November 1918.jpg
Ophir on fire in Gibraltar in November 1918

Ophir's crew fought the fire with her own firefighting equipment until the evening of 11 November, when an explosion blew the hatches off number two hold [10] and killed two of her enginemen. [11] Water that had been pumped through firehoses into the hold threatened to break through the bulkhead into her fire room. This would extinguish her furnaces and thus disable her pumps. Lieut Cmdr Nash asked permission from the Royal Navy Senior Naval Officer (SNO) for the ship to be beached. The SNO agreed, and a pilot took her to shallows where she was grounded in 4+12 fathoms (8 m) of water. Her boilers were put out of action, and the ship continued to burn. [10]

On 16 November 1918 the two dead crewmen were buried in North Front Cemetery, but in June 1919 their bodies were repatriated to the USA. In January 1919 HM Tug Crocodile pumped the water out of Ophir. On 18 January her number one hold and after hold were dry, only 3 feet (1 m) of water remained in her number two hold. Her surviving crew was repatriated to the USA, and a team was sent from the USA to refloat and repair her. [10] She was refloated on 10 February 1919. [9] On 22 May 1919 the five Jeffrey Quad trucks, which had spent weeks under 16 feet (5 m) of water, were sold to a buyer in Cadiz. [10] On 30 July her wreck was offered at auction in London, but no-one bought her. [1]

Return voyage

The crew who brought the burnt-out Ophir across the Atlantic in the winter of 1919-20, on deck at Norfolk, Virginia in January 1920 Ophir NH-43072.jpg
The crew who brought the burnt-out Ophir across the Atlantic in the winter of 1919–20, on deck at Norfolk, Virginia in January 1920

On 25 November 1919, Ophir left Gibraltar under her own power, crewed by six officers and 68 enlisted men, and carrying the wives of eight of the enlisted men as passengers. Only one of her three boilers was working. She called at the Azores, and two days later she broke down. Off Bermuda the minesweeper USS Bobolink took her in tow. About 100 nautical miles (190 km) off Cape Henry they encountered a storm, which broke the tow rope. Ophir drifted for 36 hours in 100-mile-per-hour (160 km/h) wind and heavy sea. Eventually she storm abated, and on 9 January 1920 she reached Norfolk, Virginia under her own power. On 16 January she was decommissioned and transferred to the Department of War. [10]

In February 1920 the Beaver Steamship Company bought the wreck. She remained at Philadelphia until 1922, when she was scrapped. [1]

Related Research Articles

Holland America Line is a US-owned cruise line, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States.

SS <i>Dwinsk</i> 1897 ocean liner sunk by a U-boat in 1918

SS Dwinsk was a transatlantic ocean liner that was launched in Ireland in 1897 as Rotterdam, renamed C. F. Tietgen in 1906, and renamed Dwinsk in 1913. A U-boat sank her in 1918, with the loss of 23 lives. The ship was built for Holland America Line, but was successively owned by Scandinavian America Line and Russian American Line, and after the Russian Revolution she was managed by Cunard Line.

SS <i>Potsdam</i> (1899) Steamship that was built as an ocean liner and later converted into a whaling factory ship

SS Potsdam was a steam ocean liner that was launched in Germany in 1899 for Holland America Line. In 1915 Swedish American Line acquired her and renamed her Stockholm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij</span> Former shipping company based in the Dutch East Indies

Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij, was a Dutch shipping line in the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia. It traded form 1888 to 1966. It was the dominant inter-island shipping line in the Dutch East Indies in the last half-century of the colonial era.

SS <i>Noordam</i> (1902) Dutch ocean liner built in Ireland & chartered to Sweden

SS Noordam was a steam ocean liner that was launched in Ireland in 1901 and scrapped in the Netherlands in 1928–29. Holland America Line owned her throughout her career. From 1923 to 1924 Swedish American Line chartered her and renamed her Kungsholm.

USS <i>Rijndam</i> Dutch ocean liner that was a US troop ship in the First World War

USS Rijndam (ID–2505) was the Holland America Line (HAL) ocean liner Rijndam, also spelt Ryndam, which was launched in Ireland in 1901 and scrapped in the Netherlands in 1929. The US requisitioned her as the United States Navy troopship USS Rijndam from 1918 until 1919. She was the first of four Holland America Line ships to be called Ryndam.

USS <i>Bali</i> Dutch cargo steamship that served in the United States Navy

USS Bali was a Dutch cargo steamship that was built for Stoomvaart Mattschappij Nederland in 1917. She served in the United States Navy, with the ID number ID–2483, from March 1918 until May 1919. She supplied the American Expeditionary Forces in France, and in 1919 she took food relief to Europe.

USS <i>Maartensdijk</i> Cargo steamship that served in the US Navy in the First World War

USS Maartensdijk was a cargo steamship that was laid down in England in 1902 as Egyptiana, but launched as Rapallo. She served in the United States Navy as USS Maartensdijk from 1918 until 1919, with the Naval Registry Identification Number ID-2497.

USS <i>Zeelandia</i> Dutch-owned ocean liner that was a US Navy troopship in 1918 and 1919

USS Zeelandia was an ocean liner that was built in Scotland in 1910 and scrapped in the Netherlands in 1936. She was the largest ship in the Koninklijke Hollandsche Lloyd (KHL) fleet from 1910 until the liners Gelria and Tubantia were completed in 1913 and 1914. She was USS Zeelandia from April 1918 until October 1919, when she was a United States Navy troopship.

USS <i>Rondo</i> (ID-2488) Dutch cargo ship that served in the United States Navy

USS Rondo (ID-2488) was a Dutch cargo steamship that was built for Stoomvaart Mattschappij Nederland in 1914. She served in the United States Navy from March 1918 until June 1919. She was scrapped in 1933.

USS <i>Oosterdijk</i> Dutch cargo ship that served in the United States Navy in 1918

USS Oosterdijk was a Holland America Line cargo steamship that was built in 1913 and sank as a result of a collision in 1918. She served in the United States Navy, with the Naval Registry Identification Number ID–2586, from March 1918 until her loss that July. Some sources anglicise her name as Oosterdyk, but Lloyd's Register registered her with the Dutch spelling Oosterdijk.

USS <i>Beukelsdijk</i> Dutch-owned cargo ship that was requisitioned for the US Navy in WW1

USS Beukelsdijk was a Dutch-owned turret deck ship that was built in England in 1903 as Grängesberg. She was renamed Beukelsdijk in 1916 when she changed owners. In 1918 she was requisitioned as USS Beukelsdijk, with the Naval Registry Identification Number ID–3135. She returned to civilian service in 1919, and was wrecked in the Norwegian Sea in 1923.

SS Binnendijk was a Holland America Line (NASM) cargo steamship. She was one of NASM's "B" class ships: the company's first cargo ships to be powered by steam turbines. Binnendijk was built in South Holland in 1921, and sunk by a mine in the English Channel in 1939. She was the first ship that NASM lost in the Second World War. Her wreck off the coast of Dorset, England is now a wreck diving site, nicknamed "The Benny".

SS <i>Van Heemskerk</i> Dutch passenger steamship that was built in 1909 and sunk in 1943

SS Van Heemskerk was a passenger steamship that was launched in the Netherlands in 1909 and sunk by enemy action off New Guinea in 1943. She spent most of her career with Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij, based in the Dutch East Indies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Rotterdam Lloyd</span>

Royal Rotterdam Lloyd was a Dutch shipping line that was established in Rotterdam in 1883 as Rotterdamsche Lloyd (RL). It became "Royal Rotterdam Lloyd" in 1947. RL mainly operated scheduled passenger and mail services between Rotterdam and the Dutch East Indies. Its independent existence ended in 1970, when KRL merged with four other Dutch shipping companies to form the Nederlandsche Scheepvaart Unie (NSU). In 1977 NSU became Nedlloyd.

SS <i>Koningin der Nederlanden</i> Dutch passenger steamship that was a US troopship in the First World War

SS Koningin der Nederlanden was a Dutch passenger steamship. She was built in 1911 for Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland, which ran scheduled passenger and mail services between Amsterdam and Java.

SS <i>Aquileia</i> Dutch-built ocean liner that became a troopship and hospital ship, and blockship

SS Aquileia was a Dutch-built steamship that was launched in 1913 as the ocean liner and mail ship Prins der Nederlanden for Netherland Line. She ran scheduled services between Amsterdam and the Dutch East Indies until 1930, when she was laid up.

SS <i>Goentoer</i> Dutch mail steamship that was a UK troopship in the First World War

SS Goentoer was a Dutch passenger and mail ship that was built for Rotterdamsche Lloyd in 1902 and scrapped in 1925. Her regular route was between Rotterdam and the Dutch East Indies. She was a UK troop ship from 1918 to 1919, after being seized under angary in Singapore.

SS <i>Westerdijk</i> Dutch cargo ship that served in the United States Navy in 1918–19

SS Westerdijk was a Holland America Line cargo steamship that was completed in 1913 and scrapped in 1933. She served in the United States Navy, with the Naval Registry Identification Number ID–2514, from March 1918 until September 1919. Some sources anglicise her name as Westerdyk, but Lloyd's Register registered her with the Dutch spelling Westerdijk.

SS <i>Van Waerwijck</i> Dutch cargo liner that became a Japanese hell ship

SS Van Waerwijck was a passenger steamship that was launched in the Netherlands in 1909 and sunk in the Strait of Malacca in 1944. She spent most of her career with Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij, based in the Dutch East Indies.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Ophir – ID 4926". Stichting Maritiem-Historische Databank (in Dutch). Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  2. "Wilis – ID 7306". Stichting Maritiem-Historische Databank (in Dutch). Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  3. "Rindjani – ID 5510". Stichting Maritiem-Historische Databank (in Dutch). Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 Lloyd's Register 1910, OPE–ORA.
  5. The Marconi Press Agency Ltd 1913, p. 270.
  6. The Marconi Press Agency Ltd 1914, p. 415.
  7. Swiggum, Susan; Kohli, Marjorie (3 December 2008). "Ship Descriptions – O". TheShipsList. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Ophir". DANFS . Naval History and Heritage Command . Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  9. 1 2 Radigan, Joseph M. "Ophir (ID 2800)". Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive. NavSource Online. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Baker, Paul (16 September 2019). "USS Ophir – The Burning Question". Gibraltar Insight. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  11. 1 2 "by Date and Ship/Base – November 1918". Casualties of the United States Navy and Coast Guard. Naval-History.net. 5 August 2011. Retrieved 29 May 2023.

Bibliography

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Ophir (ship, 1904) at Wikimedia Commons