USS West Coast (ID-3315) - U.S. Navy Career

U.S. Navy Career

Upon completion of West Coast on 9 August 1918, she was handed over to the United States Navy for use in the Naval Overseas Transportation Service . She was commissioned as USS West Coast (ID-3315) the same day with Lieutenant Commander Robert Crabb, USNRF, in command.

West Coast departed the Pacific Northwest on 15 August, bound for Chile to take on a load of guano. The ship burned out a thrust-bearing in her turbine, however, and was forced to put into San Francisco on 17 August for extensive repairs which lasted until 7 December. Meanwhile, the Armistice ended World War I and curtailed the Allies' need for nitrates. Hence West Coast's voyage to Chile was cancelled, and the cargo vessel was ordered to proceed via the Panama Canal to Norfolk, Virginia. She entered Hampton Roads, Virginia, on the last day of 1918 and sailed for France on 6 January 1919. Arriving at Bordeaux on 21 January, West Coast discharged her cargo, loaded 1,994 tons of Army return cargo, and got underway for the United States on 16 February. The cargo vessel reached Newport News, Virginia, and unloaded. She departed Hampton Roads on 18 March and arrived at New Orleans eight days later. After loading a cargo of cotton, she sailed on 3 April and returned briefly to Norfolk, before getting underway for England on 10 April. She unloaded her cotton cargo in Falmouth and Liverpool and departed the British Isles on 30 May. Calling at Norfolk from 12 to 15 June, West Coast proceeded for the Gulf of Mexico and made port at Galveston, Texas, on 22 June. Four days later, the cargo vessel was decommissioned and her name struck from the Navy list.