U.S. Navy Service, World War I, 1918-1919
SS W. L. Steed was a steel-hulled tanker built in 1918 at Quincy, Massachusetts, by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company, under a United States Shipping Board contract. The U.S. Navy inspected her on 10 August 1918, assigned Identification Number (Id. No.) 3449 to her, and commissioned her for World War I service as USS W. L. Steed at Boston, Massachusetts, on 18 September 1918, Lieutenant Commander John Charlton, USNRF, in command.
Assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS), W. L. Steed departed Boston on 28 September 1918 and proceeded to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she took on a cargo of oil. She sailed for New York City on 8 October 1918, whence she headed for Nova Scotia in Canada on 17 October 1918. She departed Sydney, Nova Scotia, on 23 October 1918, bound for Devonport, England, but developed a steering gear casualty en route and put into St. John's, Newfoundland, for repairs on 30 October 1918.
W. L. Steed departed St. John's on 10 November 1918 and was at sea when the armistice ending World War I was signed at Compiègne, France, on the 11 November 1918. She made port at New York on the 13 November 1918 and entered drydock for repairs which lasted through the remainder of November.
W. L. Steed got underway again on 1 December 1918, bound for France, and arrived at Le Havre, France, on 22 December 1918. Discharging her oil cargo in two days, she subsequently departed Le Havre on 26 December 1918, bound for the Gulf of Mexico.
After touching at Bermuda, she arrived at New Orleans, Louisiana, on 18 January 1919, took on another cargo of oil, and left the Mississippi Delta on 4 February 1919, bound again for France. She never completed the voyage, however, for she was damaged en route and put into New York on 18 February 1919.
After inventories of all equipment were taken and repairs were completed, W. L. Steed simultaneously was decommissioned, struck from the Navy List, and returned to the United States Shipping Board on 26 March 1919, once again becoming SS W. L. Steed.
Read more about this topic: USS W. L. Steed (ID-3449)
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