USS America (ID-3006) - USS America

USS America

After the United States entered World War I on 6 April 1917, Amerika remained inactive until seized by deputies under the orders of John A. Donald, the Commissioner of the United States Shipping Board (USSB), on 25 July 1917. Upon inspecting the liner, American agents found her filthy and discovered that her crew had sabotaged certain elements of the ship's engineering plant. Nevertheless, with her officers and men detained on Deer Island, Amerika was earmarked by the United States Navy for service in the Cruiser and Transport Force as a troop transport. Given the identification number 3006, she was placed in commission as USS Amerika (ID-3006) at 08:00 on 6 August 1917, at the Boston Navy Yard with Lieutenant Commander Frederick L. Oliver in temporary command. Ten days later, Captain George C. Day arrived on board and assumed command.

Over the ensuing weeks, she was converted into a troopship, and while this work was in progress, Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels promulgated General Order No. 320, changing the names of several ex-German ships on 1 September 1917. As a consequence Amerika was renamed America.

The major part of her conversion and repair work having been completed by late September, America ran a six-hour trial outside of Boston Harbor on the morning of 29 September. The ship managed to make three more revolutions than she had ever made before. The completion of these trials proved to be a milestone in the reconditioning of the former German ships, for America was the last to be readied for service in the American Navy.

On 18 October 1917, America departed the Boston Navy Yard and, two days later, arrived at Hoboken, New Jersey, which would be the port of embarkation for all of her wartime voyages carrying doughboys to Europe. There, she loaded coal and cargo; received a brief visit from Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves, the commander of the Cruiser-Transport Force; and took on board her first contingent of troops. Completing the embarkation on the afternoon of 29 October, America sailed for France on the morning of 31 October, in company with the transports Mount Vernon, Von Steuben, Agamemnon, the armored cruiser North Carolina, and destroyers Terry and Duncan.

For more than a week, the passage was uneventful. Then, on 7 November, Von Steuben struck Agamemnon while zig-zagging. As America’s war history states: "The excitement caused by the collision of these great ships was greatly increased when the Von Steuben sent out a signal that a submarine was sighted." The ships in the convoy dispersed as if on signal, only to draw together in formation once more when the "enemy" failed to materialize. All vessels resumed their stations—all, that is, except Von Steuben whose bow was open to the sea from the damage suffered in the collision. Even the crippled transport rejoined the convoy the following afternoon. Met on 12 November off the coast of France by an escort consisting of converted American yachts and French airplanes and destroyers, the convoy reached safe haven at Brest, America's only wartime port of debarkation. She dropped her anchor at 11:15 and began discharging the soldiers.

Underway again on 29 November, the ship returned to the United States, in convoy, reaching Hoboken on 10 December. She then remained pier side through Christmas and New Year's Day and headed for France again on 4 January 1918, carrying 3,838 troops and 4,100 tons of cargo. The following day, she fell in with the transport Mercury, and armored cruiser Seattle, her escort for the crossing. Except for the after control station personnel reporting a torpedo track crossing in the ship's wake on 17 January—shortly before the transport reached Brest—this voyage was uneventful.

America arrived at Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 6 February and the next day entered the Norfolk Navy Yard for repairs and alterations. At this time, the ship received an additional pair of 6-inch (150 mm) guns to augment her main battery.

Troop ship duty continued:

• Left Hoboken 27 February 1918 with 3,877 troops, accompanied by Agamemnon and Mount Vernon, arrived at Brest on 10 March.
• Left Brest 17 March 1918 with French naval personnel (4 officers, 10 petty officers, 77 men), arrived 10 days later.
• Left Hoboken 6 April with 3,877 troops, joined Great Northern on the 8th and Agamemnon on the 12th, made port 15 April.
• A week later, after disembarking her charges, the transport took on board the survivors from the American munitions ship, Florence H, which had exploded at Quiberon Bay five days before, and sailed for the United States. Entered the Hudson River on 1 May.
• Sailed a week later, joined on 10 May by George Washington, De Kalb, coming from Newport News, Virginia. Shortly after 03:00 on 18 May, four men sighted what appeared to be a periscope some 50 yards from the ship, but it vanished. Arrived in Brest later that day.
• Sailed for the United States on 21 May at 15:50, accompanied by George Washington, De Kalb, and a coastal escort of destroyers. Escort attacked a suspected submarine four hours out then continued. Escort left convoy after 22:00 on 22 May. De Kalb fell behind the next day, and America steamed alone on 25 May. Reached Hoboken four days later.
• Left Hoboken 10 June with 5,305 troops, accompanied by Agamemnon, Mount Vernon, and Orizaba. Joined near Europe by coastal escort eight days later, reached Brest 19 June.
• Left Brest 23 June accompanied by Orizaba, parted company three days later, arrived at Hoboken on 1 July.

During the brief respite that followed, America briefly received Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves on board and was painted in a dazzle camouflage pattern designed to obscure the ship's lines, a pattern that she would wear for the remainder of her days as a wartime transport.

Late on 9 July, America sailed on the seventh of her voyages to Europe for the Navy. Just before midnight on the 14th, while the convoy steamed through a storm that limited visibility severely, a stranger, SS Instructor, unwittingly wandered into the formation and ran afoul of America. In spite of attempts at radical course changes by both ships, America struck the intruder near the break of her poop deck and sheared off her stern which sank almost immediately. America's swing threw the wreck of Instructor clear, allowing it to pass down the transport's port side without touching before it sank less than 10 minutes later. America stopped briefly to search for survivors, but the danger of lurking U-boats limited the pause to the most abbreviated of durations, and the storm added other obstacles. As a result, America succeeded in rescuing only the 11 Instructor crewmen who managed to man a lifeboat. Tragically, the exigencies of war forced America to abandon the other 31 to their fate. A court of inquiry held at Brest on 18 July, soon after America arrived there, exonerated her captain from any blame with regard to the sad incident.

Fortunately, since the brush with Instructor had caused but minor damage to America, the transport was still able to carry out her mission. After embarking passengers for the return trip, she got underway on 25 July in company with Matsonia, Manchuria, Aeolus, Sierra, Martha Washington, Powhatan, and SS Patria. Upon parting from these ships three days later, America raced on alone and reached Hoboken on the evening of 3 August.

Her eighth voyage began on 18 August with America's sailing in company with George Washington and Von Steuben. She reached Brest on the 27th, discharged her troops, and embarked the usual mix of passengers. On this trip, she took on board 171 army officers, 165 army enlisted men, 18 French nuns, 10 YMCA secretaries, a Red Cross official and two nurses, two civilians and two sailors before sailing on 30 August. One of the civilians was the distinguished conductor Walter Damrosch who, at the request of General John J. Pershing, commanding general of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF), was entrusted the mission of reorganizing the bands of the Army, and had founded a school for bandmasters at the general headquarters of the AEF at Chaumont, France.

America parted from George Washington and Von Steuben on 2 September and reached the Boston Navy Yard on the 7th. Following drydocking, voyage repairs, and the embarkation of another contingent of troops, she arrived at Hoboken on the morning of the 17th. Three days later, she cleared the port, in company with Agamemnon, bound for France on her ninth transatlantic voyage cycle.