SS El Oriente - World War I

World War I

After the United States declared war on Germany in April 1917, it's unclear what role, if any, El Oriente played early on in the war. Her sister ships El Occidente and El Sol were both requisitioned by the United States Shipping Board (USSB) on behalf of the United States Army, and both were designated as animal transport ships. If El Oriente were used by the Army as an animal transport ship, she would have needed a refit which typically meant that any second- or third-class passenger accommodations had to be ripped out and replaced with ramps and stalls for the horses and mules carried. It is known that El Oriente sailed in an American convoy to France on 16 April 1918 with U.S. Navy transports Maui, Calamares, Pocahontas, and Madawaska, British transports Czar and Czaritza, and U.S. cruiser Seattle, and reached France on 28 April.

The next recorded activity of El Oriente was on 29 July, when she was acquired by the U.S. Navy and commissioned the same day with Lieutenant Commander William Delahanty, USNRF, in command. El Oriente was assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service and carried animals and supplies for the U.S. Army, joining her two sister ships, El Sol and El Occidente in that duty.

El Oriente's first Navy voyage to France began when she sailed from Newport News with 500 animals on 11 August. Unlike earlier animal transport crossings for the Army, where there was as much as a 4% mortality rate, the voyages in August 1918 and after carried a transport veterinarian and a permanent veterinary detachment to care for the animals while on board the ship. As part of this new program, El Oriente delivered her full load of horses and mules— suffering no losses—at Bordeaux on 2 September. El Oriente made an additional roundtrip with 500 more animals in October, losing only three of her equine cargo during the voyage. El Oriente continued sailing for the through April 1919, sometimes carrying a small numer of troops on return voyages to the United States. At that time El Oriente was converted to carry troops, and assigned to the Cruiser and Transport Force to help return larger numbers American servicemen from Europe.

She sailed on 11 June for Bordeaux and returned with officers and men of the 6th Cavalry Regiment on 4 July. She made additional voyages in July and August, returning 978 members of the 3rd Infantry Division to Philadelphia on the latter voyage. In all, El Oriente returned 2,986 healthy and wounded American servicemen from France in three voyages. On 15 September at Philadelphia, El Orente was decommissioned, and returned to the Morgan Line soon after.