SS El Occidente - World War I

World War I

After the United States declared war on Germany in April 1917, the United States Army, needing transports to get its men and materiel to France, had a select committee of shipping executives pore over registries of American shipping. The committee selected El Occidente and thirteen other American-flagged ships that were sufficiently fast, could carry enough fuel in their bunkers for transatlantic crossings, and, most importantly, were in port or not far at sea. After El Occidente discharged her last load of passengers and cargo, she was officially handed over to the Army on 30 May.

Before any troop transportation could be undertaken, all of the ships had to be hastily refitted. Of the fourteen ships, four, including El Occidente, were designated to carry animals and cargo; the other ten were designated to carry human passengers. The four ships designated to carry animals had to have ramps and stalls built. All the ships had to have gun platforms installed, before each ship docked at the Brooklyn Navy Yard to have the guns themselves installed. All the ships were manned by merchant officers and crews but carried two U.S. Navy officers, Navy gun crews, quartermasters, signalmen, and wireless operators. The senior Navy officer on board would take control if a ship came under attack.

The American convoy carrying the first units of the American Expeditionary Force was broken into four groups; El Occidente was in the fourth group with Montanan, Dakotan, and Edward Luckenbach, and escorts consisting of cruiser St. Louis, U.S. Navy transport Hancock, and destroyers Shaw, Ammen, and Flusser. El Occidente departed with her group on the morning of 17 June for Brest, France, steaming at an 11-knot (20 km/h) pace. A thwarted submarine attack on the first convoy group, and reports of heavy submarine activity off of Brest resulted in a change in the convoy's destination to Saint-Nazaire.

El Occidente departed Saint-Nazaire on 14 July in the company of her convoy mates Dakotan, Montanan, and Edward Luckenbach. Joining the return trip were Army transport Momus, Navy armed collier Cyclops, Navy oiler Kanawha, and cruiser Seattle, the flagship of Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves, the head of the Navy's Cruiser and Transport Force.

Sources do not reveal El Occidente's movements over the next eight months. But in April 1918, the Chicago Daily Tribune reported on an encounter El Occidente had with two German submarines that had occurred on 2 February. In a 20-minute running gun battle, Naval Armed Guardsmen aboard El Occidente exchanged fire with two U-boats, one on the port and one on the starboard. The news item reported that El Occidente's gunners had demolished the periscope of one of her attackers.

El Occidente's next recorded convoy trip took place on 23 March, when she sailed with Navy transports Martha Washington and Powhatan, Army transport ship Finland, and cruiser Pueblo, arriving in France on 4 April. El Occidente next sailed on 18 May with President Grant, Calamares, stores ship Bridge, and Italian steamer Duca degli Abruzzi. Rendezvousing with a contingent of transports from Newport News— Madawaska, Pocahontas, Zeelandia, and Italian steamer Re d'Italia—the convoy was escorted by American cruiser Huntington, and destroyers Little and Kimberly. The convoy arrived in France on 30 May. On 10 July, El Occidente departed Newport News with Navy transports Aeolus, Powhatan, Martha Washington, Matsonia, but had to return to port with a leaky gas injector.

On 27 August 1918, El Occidente was transferred to the Navy and commissioned the same day with Lt. Commander E. S. Campbell, USNRF. El Occidente loaded cargo and 585 horses and mules, and sailed for France on 17 September. Five animals died or were destroyed during the voyage. Offloading her cargo at Saint-Nazaire and Verdun, El Occidente returned to the U.S. on 1 November.

In port when the Armistice with Germany was signed on 11 November, El Occidente loaded 1,467 short tons (1,331 t) of cargo and 800 animals for a second Navy voyage. Departing on 17 November for Verdun, the ship arrived there on 19 December. Returning to Baltimore for repairs and alterations which included the removal of her armament and the stalls for animal cargo, El Occidente sailed again on 15 January 1919 for Bordeaux where she unloaded cargo for the Army of Occupation and embarked 90 passengers for return to the United States. She was decommissioned at New York on 18 March 1919, and delivered to the United States Shipping Board the same day.