Soon after commissioning, Virginian shifted to Fletcher's Dry Dock Company at Hoboken for repairs and conversion into a troop transport. She remained at Fletcher's shipyard through the end of February 1919.[2]
Virginian dropped anchor off Charpentier Point, near St. Nazaire, France, on 3 April 1919, and shifted to St. Nazaire on 4 April 1919. She unloaded her cargo there for the next two days before she began embarking United States Army troops returning home after their World War I service in Europe for transport to the United States. Her passengers included 74 officers and 4,097 enlisted men, from units that ranged from the 362d InfantryMachine GunCompany to the 127th Convalescent Detachment. She got underway at 07:40 hours on 8 April 1919 to return to the United States.
Arriving at the north side of Army Dock Number 7, Hoboken, on the morning of 20 April 1919, Virginian discharged the troops before shifting to the Morse Dry Dock Company at Brooklyn for repairs to her propellers. She shifted back to the Army dock at Hoboken on 27 April 1919, then got underway for Europe on 30 April 1919 to pick up more returning "doughboys" for passage to the United States.
USS Virginian arriving in the United States in 1919 carrying American troops returning from World War I service in Europe.
Virginian reached St. Nazaire on the afternoon of 11 May 1919, took on board 56 officers and 4,069 men, and departed on 13 May 1919 bound for Hampton Roads, Virginia. After a 12-day passage, she moored at the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway docks at Newport News, Virginia, on the afternoon of 25 May 1919 and had all of the troops disembarked within an hour.
After a brief period of upkeep and repairs at the Norfolk Navy Yard at Portsmouth, Virginia, Virginian again departed for France on 1 June 1919. She returned to Hampton Roads carrying returning American servicemen on 25 June 1919.
Virginian departed Hampton Roads on her fourth voyage to pick up troops in France on 1 July 1919. On 3 August 1919, she completed this voyage, arriving at Hoboken. She had discharged the last troops by 09:45 hours on 4 August 1919.
Virginian then began her conversion back into a cargo ship and other preparations for demobilization. After the last troops had disembarked, shipyard workmen and the ship's crew bent to the task of taking down troop fittings, performing routine maintenance tasks, discharging ballasts, cleaning holds, and inventorying equipment. At 16:00 hours on 19 August 1919, she was decommissioned and formally turned over to a representative of the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company, Captain John S. Greene, who as Lieutenant Commander Green had served as USS Virginian's first commanding officer.
World War II and later career
The ship then resumed her mercantile service as cargo ship SS Virginian with the American-Hawaiian Shipping Company. She served that firm, home-ported at New York City, until 1947, when she was transferred to the United States Maritime Commission and laid up. For World War II she was converted to a livestock ship by the War Shipping Administration. She moved horsesmules and sometimes sheep. She had the greatest ship livestock capacity, with 679 stalls. One of her trips was a 28-day shipment of 640 former Australian Army animals to Calcutta, India.[3] She was crossing the Atlantic on her return to Baltimore when she learned of the surrender of the Japanese in WWII.
USS Siboney (ID-2999) was a ship transport for the United States Navy during World War I. She was the sister ship of USS Orizaba(ID-1536) but neither was part of a ship class. Launched as SS Oriente, she was soon renamed after Siboney, Cuba, a landing site of United States forces during the Spanish–American War. After her navy service ended, she was SS Siboney for the New York & Cuba Mail Steamship Co.. The ship was operated under charter by American Export Lines beginning in late 1940. During World War II she served the U.S. Army as transport USAT Siboney and as hospital ship USAHS Charles A. Stafford.
SS Pennsylvania was a transatlantic liner that was launched in Ireland in 1896 and spent most of her career with Hamburg America Line (HAPAG). She was the first of a class of four HAPAG sister ships that were built in the United Kingdom and Germany between 1896 and 1899.
USS America (ID-3006) was a troop transport for the United States Navy during World War I. She was launched in 1905 as SS Amerika by Harland and Wolff in Belfast for the Hamburg America Line of Germany. As a passenger liner, she sailed primarily between Hamburg and New York. On 14 April 1912, Amerika transmitted a wireless message about icebergs near the same area where RMS Titanic struck one and sank less than three hours later. At the outset of the war, Amerika was docked at Boston; rather than risk seizure by the British Royal Navy, she remained in port for the next three years.
USS William P. Biddle (APA-8) was a Heywood-class attack transport in service with the United States Navy from 1941 to 1946. She was scrapped in 1957.
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.
USS Antigone (ID-3007) was a transport for the United States Navy during World War I, and the first ship of that name for the U.S. Navy. She was originally SS Neckar for North German Lloyd from her 1900 launch until seized by the U.S. in 1917. After her war service she was SS Potomac for United States Lines.
USS Bali was a large Dutch freighter seized in New York City by the U.S. Customs Service during World War I. She was assigned to the U.S. Navy and later the U.S. Army as a cargo ship to be used to carry military cargo to Allied forces in France. After a number of transatlantic voyages, she was returned to the Dutch government at war's end. She subsequently remained busy transporting cargo until World War II, when she was wrecked by Luftwaffe bombers in the Mediterranean. Her remains were reclaimed and disposed of by scrapping in 1951.
SS El Sol was a cargo ship built in 1910 for the Morgan Line, a subsidiary of the Southern Pacific Company. During World War I, she was known as USAT El Sol in service with the United States Army and as USS El Sol (ID-4505) in service with the United States Navy. At the end of war, she reverted to her original name of SS El Sol.
The second USS Wachusett (ID-1840) was a cargo ship that served in the United States Navy from 1918 to 1919.
USS Walter A. Luckenbach (ID-3171) was a United States Navy cargo ship and troop transport in commission from 1918 to 1919.
Wassaic was a steam cargo ship built in 1918-1919 by Los Angeles Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company of San Pedro for the United States Shipping Board (USSB) as part of the wartime shipbuilding program of the Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) to restore the nation's Merchant Marine.
SS Edward Luckenbach was the first of five new cargo ships to be built for the Luckenbach Steamship Company by Fore River Shipbuilding Corporation. The ship was launched in September 1916, delivered in November and briefly operated as such before being requisitioned for World War I service. The ship was one of the cargo vessels in the first large convoy transporting U.S. Army forces to France. After that convoy the ship served as a U.S. Army Chartered Transport (USACT) until converted by the Army to a troop ship and turned over to the Navy a few months before the war's end. The Navy commissioned the ship as USS Edward Luckenbach assigning the miscellaneous identification number ID-1662 in August 1918. The transport made one wartime voyage with continued voyages returning the Army to the U.S. until August 1919.
USS F. J. Luckenbach (ID-2160) was a cargo ship and troop transport that served in the United States Navy from 1918 to 1919. SS F. J. Luckenbach was built as a commercial cargo ship at Quincy, Massachusetts, by Fore River Shipbuilding Corporation for Luckenbach Steamship Company of New York City. Launched on 15 September 1917, she was delivered to Luckenbach on 28 November 1917. She then came under the control of the United States Shipping Board. The Shipping Board transferred her to the U.S. Navy for World War I service on 9 January 1918. Assigned Identification Number 2160, she was commissioned the same day as USS F. J. Luckenbach.
USS Alaskan (ID-4542) was a United States Navy cargo ship and troop transport in commission from 1918 to 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.
USS Mexican (ID-1655) was a United States Navy cargo ship and animal transport in commission from 1917 to 1919. She operated as the commercial steamship SS Mexican from 1907 to 1917 and from 1919 to 1948.
USS Floridian (ID-3875) was a United States Navy troop transport in commission in 1919.
USS Arcadia (ID-1605) was a transatlantic liner that was launched in Ireland in 1896 and spent most of her career with Hamburg America Line (HAPAG). She was one of a series of at least five HAPAG sister ships that were built in the United Kingdom in 1896 and 1897.
USS Berwyn (ID-3565) was a United States Navy cargo ship in commission from 1918 to 1919. She saw service in the final weeks of World War I, then entered commercial service in 1919 as SS Berwyn. She was wrecked in 1920.
The first USS Yellowstone (ID-2657) was a cargo ship of the United States Navy that served during World War I and its immediate aftermath.
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