SS Virginia at Muskegon, Michigan, prior to World War I. Color-tinted post card. | |
History | |
---|---|
United States | |
Name |
|
Namesake | Blue Ridge Mountains |
Builder | Globe Iron Works, Cleveland, Ohio |
Launched | 2 May 1891 |
Acquired | by purchase, 19 April 1918 |
Commissioned | 17 October 1918 |
Fate | Destroyed by fire, 18 July 1960 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Steamship |
Displacement | 1,606 long tons (1,632 t) |
Length | 269 ft 2 in (82.04 m) |
Beam | 38 ft 3 in (11.66 m) |
Draft | 12 ft 8 in (3.86 m) |
Speed | 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph) |
Complement | 87 officers and enlisted |
The first USS Blue Ridge (ID-2432) was a steamship in the United States Navy. The ship was named for the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Blue Ridge was originally constructed as the Great Lakes passenger steamer Virginia built by Globe Iron Works at Cleveland, Ohio. The ship was launched in 1891 and was operated by the Goodrich Transit Company between Chicago, Illinois and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
In 1893, during the Chicago World's Fair, the ship and the whaleback steamer SS Christopher Columbus competed against each other in races.
Virginia was purchased on 19 April 1918 for use as a Navy transport at Manitowoc, Wisconsin once America entered World War I. The ship was renamed Blue Ridge (ID-2432) and commissioned on 17 October 1918.
On 28 December 1918, the ship arrived at the Boston Navy Yard from the Great Lakes. While undergoing repairs, the war ended and eliminated the need for further service. While still at the Navy Yard, the ship's name was changed to Avalon on 18 August 1919.
The Edward P. Farley Company of Chicago bought the ship on 21 August 1919.
In 1920 The Wilmington Transportation Company of Los Angeles acquired the ship and renamed it the Avalon. The ship entered the company's two-hour daytime Catalina–Los Angeles run [1] between the Catalina Island Terminal in Wilmington and Avalon on Santa Catalina Island. Los Angeles harbor.
During World War II, Avalon served as a transport in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The ship returned to the Catalina–Los Angeles run in 1946 and remained in this service until laid up at the Catalina Island Terminal on 12 February 1951. Most of the equipment and superstructure were removed.
While being scrapped, the Avalon caught fire and burned at Long Beach, California on 18 July 1960. The hulk was towed to Redondo, fitted with a crane and used as a barge. After salvaging parts from the Dominator wreck, the Avalon sank in a storm on 16 September 1964 [2] [3]
USS Freedom (ID-3024) was a cargo and transport ship in the United States Navy during World War I. Originally SS Wittekind for the North German Lloyd line, the ship also served as USAT Iroquois and USAT Freedom after being seized by the United States in 1917.
The first USS Theodore Roosevelt (ID-1478) was a United States Navy troop transport in commission from 1918 to 1919.
USS Aeolus (ID-3005), sometimes also spelled Æolus, was a United States Navy transport ship during World War I. She was formerly the North German Lloyd liner SS Grosser Kurfürst, also spelled Großer Kurfürst, launched in 1899 that sailed regularly between Bremen and New York. At the outset of World War I the ship was interned by the United States and, when the U.S. entered the conflict in 1917, was seized and converted to a troop transport.
SS Catalina, also known as The Great White Steamer, was a 301-foot steamship built in 1924 that provided passenger service on the 26-mile passage between Los Angeles and Santa Catalina Island from 1924 to 1975. According to the Steamship Historical Society of America, Catalina has carried more passengers than any other vessel anywhere. From August 25, 1942 until April 22, 1946 the ship served as the Army troop ferry U.S. Army FS-99 at the San Francisco Port of Embarkation transporting more than 800,000 troops and other military personnel between embarkation camps and the departure piers. After a period of service as a floating discothèque, the ship ran aground on a sandbar in Ensenada Harbor in 1997 and partially sank on the spot. It was scrapped in 2009.
SS Iowan was a cargo ship built in 1914 for the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company. During World War I she was taken over by the United States Navy and commissioned as USS Iowan (ID-3002). During World War II, the ship was transferred to the Soviet Union and renamed SS Tashkent.
The SS Cabrillo was a wooden passenger steamship operating in Los Angeles County, California, during the first half of the 20th century. The steamship provided transportation between the Port of Los Angeles and the ports of Avalon and Two Harbors on Santa Catalina Island.
USS Walter A. Luckenbach (ID-3171) was a United States Navy cargo ship and troop transport in commission from 1918 to 1919.
USS Charles (ID-1298) was a troop transport that served in the United States Navy from 1918 to 1920 and was briefly in commission as USS Harvard in 1918 and 1920. She was better known in her role as passenger liner SS Harvard, one of the premier West Coast steamships operated by the Los Angeles Steamship Company.
USS General W. C. Gorgas (ID-1365) was a United States Navy troop transport in commission in 1919, named for William C. Gorgas. It was a German ship seized by the US Shipping Board after the US entered World War I. Under charter from 1917 from the Panama Railroad Company, it had carried troops and supplies to Europe. After being used as a troop transport to return troops from Europe in 1919, later that year it was converted back to commercial use as a passenger and freight ship operated by the Panama Railroad Company.
The first USS Los Angeles (ID-1470) was a tanker that served in the United States Navy from 1917 to 1919.
USS Kerwood (ID-1489) was a cargo ship that served in the United States Navy from 1918-1919.
USS Arizonan (ID-4542A), also written ID-4542-A was a United States Navy cargo ship and troop transport in commission from 1918 to 1919.
SS West Hosokie was a steel–hulled cargo ship built in 1918 as part of the World War I emergency wartime shipbuilding program organized by the United States Shipping Board.
SS Edenton was a steel-hulled cargo ship built in 1918 for the United States Shipping Board as part of the Board's World War I emergency shipbuilding program.
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.
USS Avalon may refer to more than one United States Navy ship:
The history of human activity on Santa Catalina Island, California begins with the Native Americans who called the island Pimugna or Pimu and referred to themselves as Pimugnans or Pimuvit. The first Europeans to arrive on Catalina claimed it for the Spanish Empire. Over the years, territorial claims to the island transferred to Mexico and then to the United States. During this time, the island was sporadically used for smuggling, otter hunting, and gold-digging. Catalina was successfully developed into a tourist destination by chewing gum magnate William Wrigley, Jr. beginning in the 1920s, with most of the activity centered around the only incorporated city of Avalon, California. Since the 1970s, most of the island has been administered by the Catalina Island Conservancy.
A. H. Bull Steamship Company was a shipping company and passenger liner service founded in New York City in 1902 by Archibald H. Bull (1848-1920). Service started with shipping between New York and Florida. His fleet of ships then added service to other Eastcoast ports. The company is also often called the Bull Lines and the Bull Steamship Line or A. H. Bull & Company. While founded in New York, Bull soon move its headquarter to Peir 5 in Baltimore, Maryland. Bull Lines main Eastcoast ports were: Baltimore, Charleston, Philadelphia, Tampa and Norfolk, Virginia. Oversea ports: Porto Rico, Antwerp, Bordeaux, Hamburg, Bremen, Copenhagen, and West Africa. Bull Steamship Line supported the US war effort for both World War I and World War II, including the loss of ships.