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SS Pennsylvania (1896)

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For other ships with the same name, see SS Pennsylvania and USS Nansemond.

Pennsylvania about 1897–1900
History
Name
  • 1896: Pennsylvania
  • 1917: Nansemond
Namesake
Owner
Operator
Port of registry
RouteHamburg – New York
BuilderHarland and Wolff, Belfast
Yard number302
Launched10 September 1896
Completed30 January 1897
Acquiredseized by USA, April 1917
Commissionedinto US Navy, 20 January 1919
Decommissionedfrom US Navy, 25 August 1919
Maiden voyage30 January 1897
Reclassifiedtroop ship, 1917
Refit1910, 1919
Identification
FateScrapped 1924
General characteristics
Class and typeP-class ocean liner
Tonnage13,265 GRT, 8,527 NRT
Displacement25,000 long tons (25,401 t)
Length559.4 ft (170.5 m)
Beam62.2 ft (19.0 m)
Draft28 ft 5 in (8.66 m)
Depth30.0 ft (9.1 m)
Decks4
Installed power695 NHP
Propulsion
Speed14 knots (26 km/h)
Capacitypassengers:

1897: 162 1st class, 197 2nd class, 2,382 3rd class

1910: 404 2nd class, 2,200 3rd class
Troopsat least 2,327
Complementas troop ship: 399
Crewin civilian service: 250
Sensors and
processing systems		submarine signalling
Armament
Notessister ships: Pretoria, Graf Waldersee, Patricia

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.

In 1917 the US Government seized Pennsylvania and renamed her Nansemond. She was a troop ship with the Army Transport Service until the end of the First World War. In 1919 the US Navy operated her as the troop ship USS Nansemond (ID-1395).

In August 1919 the Navy returned Nansemond to the United States Shipping Board, who had her converted to a cargo-only ship. She was scrapped in 1924.

Building

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Harland and Wolff built Pennsylvania in Belfast, launching her on 10 September 1896 and completing her on 30 January 1897.[1] Her registered length was 559.4 ft (170.5 m), her beam was 62.2 ft (19.0 m) and her depth was 30.0 ft (9.1 m). Her tonnages were 13,265 GRT, 8,527 NRT[2] and 25,000 long tons (25,401 t) displacement.[citation needed]

Harland and Wolff built Pennsylvania as a three-class ship. She originally had berths for 162 passengers in first class, 197 in second class and 2,382 in third class.[3]

Pennsylvania had twin propellers, each driven by a four-cylinder quadruple-expansion steam engine. Between them her twin engines were rated at 695 NHP[2] and gave her a speed of 14 knots (26 km/h).[4]

HAPAG registered Arcadia in Hamburg. Her code letters were RKPB.[2]

Sister ships followed Pennsylvania from German shipyards. Blohm & Voss built Pretoria in 1897[3] and Graf Waldersee in 1898.[5] AG Vulcan Stettin built Patricia in 1899.[3]

Pennsylvania

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On 30 January 1897 Pennsylvania began her maiden voyage from Belfast to New York.[4] Her regular route was between New York and Hamburg.

On 24 September 1902 Pennsylvania rescued all 13 crew from the Norwegian barque Bothnia, who had been struggling against rising water for 17 days. On 8 March 1910 Pennsylvania accidentally rammed the Hamburg-registered schooner Gertrud in the mouth of the Elbe, killing five of the schooner's six crew.[3]

After the collision, Pennsylvania was refitted as a two-class ship, with berths for 404 second class and 2,200 third class passengers. The refit increased her tonnage to 13,333 GRT.[3]

In the same 1910 refit a flight deck was installed on her after deckhouse for an aeroplane to take off and fly up to 43 nautical miles (80 km). After a number of test flights the flight deck was removed.[6]

By 1913 Pennsylvania was equipped for wireless telegraphy. Her call sign was DDN.[7]

On 18 July 1914, amid the July Crisis in Europe, Pennsylvania left Hamburg for New York. In the first week of August the First World War began, so Pennsylvania remained in the neutral US.[3]

Nansemond

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On 6 April 1917 The US declared war on Germany. The US Shipping Board seized Pennsylvania and renamed her Nansemond. She was given two 6-inch/40-caliber guns and two 3-inch/50-caliber guns as defensive armament. For the remainder of the war the Army Transport Service used Nansemond as a troop ship.[8] The cargoes she carried from the US to Europe included railroad locomotives.[9]

Late in November 1918 Nansemond left Saint-Nazaire in France carrying 16 Medical Corps personnel and 148 patients suffering from shell shock. She was caught in a succession of westerly and northwesterly gales, and on 30 November and 1 December she weathered waves up to 40 feet (12 m) high. She reached a US port on 7 December, five days late.[10]

USS Nansemond in 1919, with homeward-bound US troops lining her rails

At Hoboken, New Jersey on 20 January 1919 Nansemond was commissioned into the US Navy with the pennant number ID-1395 and code letters GJBN. Lt Cdr W McLeod, USNRF, was appointed to command her, and she was assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service.[11] For Navy service she was repainted with a black hull and funnel, white superstructure and yellow masts.[9]

On 4 February Nansemond left New York carrying Army supplies, and on 16 February she reached St-Nazaire. On 26 February she left St-Nazaire carrying members of the American Expeditionary Forces, and on 11 March she reached Newport News, Virginia. She spent the next five months crossing and re-crossing the North Atlantic, making a round trip every 32 days.[11]

On 28 June Nansemond left Brest, France carrying members of the 802nd Pioneer Infantry, which was an African-American unit. Also aboard was Frank Monroe Upton, a US Navy ensign who had been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.[12]

On 23 August 1919 Nansemond reached New York from Brest carrying 2,327 troops.[13] On 25 August the Navy decommissioned her and returned her to the US Shipping Board the same day.[11]

Fate

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The USSB sent Nansemond to the National Dry Dock and Repair Company to be converted into a cargo-only ship. A strike or strikes delayed the work, which was not completed until 19 December. The USSB retained Cox & Stevens to prepare plans for new cabin and steerage accommodation, but did not commission the refit to be undertaken.[14]

The USSB at first allocated Nansemond to American Line. The Board then bareboat chartered her to the Army Transport Service, which operated her between Antwerp and New York.[14]

Nansemond was then laid up with other USSB ships in the lower Hudson River. She was scrapped in 1924[15] in Baltimore by the Boston Iron and Metals Company.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Pennsylvania". Shipping and Shipbuilding. Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  2. ^ a b c "Steamers". Lloyd's Register of Shipping. Vol. I. London: Lloyd's Register of Shipping. 1914.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Swiggum, Susan; Kohli, Marjorie (28 February 2010). "Ship Descriptions – P–Q". TheShipsList. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Pennsylvania". Harland and Wolff Shipbuilding & Engineering Works. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  5. ^ Swiggum, Susan; Kohli, Marjorie (28 July 2010). "Ship Descriptions – G". TheShipsList. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  6. ^ "Pennsylvania (1896–1924)". Schiffe-Maxim (in German). Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  7. ^ The Marconi Press Agency Ltd (1913). The Year Book of Wireless Telegraphy and Telephony. London: The St Katherine Press. p. 240.
  8. ^ Photo gallery of Nansemond (ID-1395) at NavSource Naval History
  9. ^ a b "35 soldiers hurt in Atlantic storm". The New York Times. 4 February 1919. p. 3. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  10. ^ "Heard from Wilson ship". The New York Times. 8 December 1918. p. 9. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  11. ^ a b c Public Domain This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
  12. ^ "10,805 troops return". The New York Times. 10 July 1919. p. 18. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  13. ^ "Six transports arrive". The New York Times. 24 August 1919. p. 11. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  14. ^ a b "Steamship Nansemond". Fourth Annual Report of the United States Shipping Board. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office: 130. 30 June 1922. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  15. ^ Putnam, William Lowell (2001). "16 Lesser Players at War". The Kaiser's Merchant Ships in World War I. Flagstaff, AZ: McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-1622336999.
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