Three ships of the United States Navy have been named Callao.
The first USS Amphion was a former German passenger liner SS Köln for Norddeutscher Lloyd from 1899–1917. Köln had been interned in Boston on the outbreak of war in Europe and confiscated in April 1917 when the United States entered the war. The ship was under the control of the United States Shipping Board (USSB) that allocated commercial type ships to military or civilian use during the war. Köln was renamed Amphion and operated by USSB for the Army as United States Army Chartered Transport (U.S.A.C.T.) Amphion as an animal transport taking mules, horses and general cargo to forces in Europe. At the end of the war the USSB allocated the ship to the Navy, which used the ship from April to September 1919 as a troop transport for returning the United States Expeditionary Force from Europe.
USS Alameda, was a United States Navy tanker in commission from 1919 to 1922. She was built as the civilian tanker SS Alameda, but transferred to the U.S. Navy after completion in 1919. She was sold for commercial service and operated under the names SS Olean and SS Sweep before she was transferred to the Navy again in World War II as USS Silver Cloud (IX-143).
Aktien-Gesellschaft Vulcan Stettin was a German shipbuilding and locomotive building company. Founded in 1851, it was located near the former eastern German city of Stettin, today Polish Szczecin. Because of the limited facilities in Stettin, in 1907 an additional yard was built in Hamburg. The now named Vulcan-Werke Hamburg und Stettin Actiengesellschaft constructed some of the most famous civilian German ships and it played a significant role in both World Wars, building warships for the Kaiserliche Marine and the Kriegsmarine later.
USS Callao (IX-205), an unclassified miscellaneous vessel, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for Callao, a seaport in Peru. She was built for the Kriegsmarine as the weather ship and icebreaker Externsteine. The ship was captured on 16 October 1944 by USCGC Eastwind of the Greenland Patrol and was temporarily commissioned into the United States Coast Guard as USCGC East Breeze before being turned over to the United States Navy and commissioned as USS Callao in January 1945. The ship was sold out of service in 1950, and broken up the following year.
USS Mercury (ID-3012) was a United States Navy transport ship during World War I. She was formerly the Norddeutscher Lloyd liner SS Barbarossa built by Blohm & Voss, Hamburg, Germany, in 1897, and operated by the North German Lloyd Line.
USS Caledonia (AK-167) was an Alamosa-class cargo ship commissioned by the U.S. Navy for service in World War II. She was responsible for delivering troops, goods and equipment to locations in the war zone.
Callao was a gunboat of the United States Navy which fought in the Spanish–American War and served in the U.S. fleet from 1898–1923.
The fifth USS Ranger (SP-237) was United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919.
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.
SS Point Bonita was constructed in 1918 and launched 27 March 1918 after a hull being built for foreign owners at Albina Engine and Machine Works was requisitioned during World War I by the United States Shipping Board (USSB). The ship saw service as the Navy transport USS Point Bonita, assigned Identification Number 3496, from 7 October 1918 to 7 April 1919, was returned to the USSB and saw civilian service with several commercial companies as San Pedro and Oliver Olson before again seeing service in World War II as USS Camanga (AG-42). After return to commercial service as Oliver Olson the ship was wrecked at the entrance to Bandon harbor in Oregon.
USS Besboro (AG-66) was built as Caddopeak, a United States Shipping Board (USSB) Emergency Fleet Corporation Design 1049 cargo ship built by Albina Engine & Machine Works, launched 18 October 1918. From 1922 Caddopeak served several commercial shipping companies until sold in 1937 to Burns Steamship Company and renamed Lurline Burns. On 2 February 1942 the ship was delivered to the War Shipping Administration, allocated to the United States Army and operated by Burns and Alaska Steamship Company under an Army charter agreement.
USS Morristown (ID-3580) was a cargo ship that served in the United States Navy during World War I, from 1918 to 1919.
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.
The second USS Volunteer (ID-3242) was a United States Navy collier in commission from 1918 to 1919.
SS Empire Chamois was a 5,864 GRT cargo ship which was built in 1918 by Ames Shipbuilding and Drydock Co, Seattle. She was ordered by the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique but was requisitioned by the United States Navy and commissioned as USS West Mount with the pennant number ID-3202 in 1918. She was decommissioned in May 1919 and passed to the United States Shipping Board (USSB) as SS Westmount. In 1927 she was sold to the Dimon Steamship Corporation and renamed SS Pacific Redwood. She returned to the USSB in 1932 and passed to the United States Maritime Commission (USMC) in 1937. In 1940, she was passed to the Ministry of Shipping, passing to the Ministry of War Transport in 1941 and being renamed SS Empire Chamois. She was sold to Astral Shipping Co Ltd in 1946 and renamed SS Granview. In 1949 she was sold to the Compagnia Maritime del Este, Panama and renamed SS Chamois, serving until 1958 when she was scrapped. She was the last Ames-built ship afloat.
Western Maid was a 5,760 GRT cargo ship that was built in 1918 by the Northwest Steel Company, Portland, Oregon, USA. She was built for the United States Shipping Board (USSB), but was commissioned into the United States Navy on completion as USS Western Maid, with the pennant number ID-3703. In 1919 she was decommissioned and returned to the USSB. In 1937 she was passed to the United States Maritime Commission. In 1940 she was transferred to the British Ministry of Shipping and renamed Empire Cormorant, passing to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) in 1941. In 1945 she was scuttled in the North Atlantic with a cargo of obsolete war matériel.
USS Pompey (AF-5) was an auxiliary ship of the United States Navy, acquired in 1898 for service in the Spanish–American War, which went on to serve as a collier, tender, and storeship in the Philippines, before being sold into commercial service after World War I. She was sunk by Japanese aircraft in 1941.
The first USS Sierra (ID-1634) was a troop transport of the United States Navy that served during World War I and its immediate aftermath.
SS Sierra Cordoba was a Norddeutscher Lloyd passenger and cargo ship completed 1913 by AG Vulcan Stettin. The ship operated between Bremen and Buenos Aires on the line's South American service and was equipped with wireless and "submarine sounding apparatus" with accommodations for 116 first class, 74 second class and 1,270 "between decks" passengers. A description after the ship had been seized and restored in 1919 noted she was among the fastest and best equipped ships of the line with accommodations for 115 first class passengers and 1,572 third and steerage class passengers as well as a crew of 179 officers and men.
The SS Harry Luckenbach, built as a cargo ship ordered by the Luckenbach Steamship Company and built at Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Co. in Chester, Pennsylvania in 1919. The as yet unnamed ship was requisitioned by the United States Shipping Board (USSB) before completion and converted to a troop transport. The USSB allocated the ship, which had been fitted out with temporary troop accommodation in its cargo spaces, to the Navy which commissioned the ship on 7 July 1919 as USS Sol Navis with the Identification number 4031A. The ship was decommissioned October 1919 after two trips to France.