Construction and Early Career
Keresan was launched in 1912 as the commercial cargo ship SS Electra for an Austro-Hungarian firm, but was sold prior to completion to another Austro-Hungarian company, M. V. Martinolich and Company, and renamed SS Erodiade. At the beginning of World War I in August 1914, Erodiade took refuge at Buenos Aires in neutral Argentina to avoid capture or destruction by Allied naval forces and was laid up there.
The United States seized all Central Powers ships in Western Hemisphere ports upon entering World War I on the Allied side in April 1917, and all Austro-Hungarian ships seized were purchased by American interests. The Kerr Navigation Company of New York City purchased Erodiade and seven other seized Austro-Hungarian cargo ships. Renamed SS Keresan, the ship went into commercial service with Kerr. Later in 1917 or in 1918, the United States Army chartered Keresan for carrying cargo to U.S. Army forces operating in Europe.
Read more about this topic: USS Keresan (ID-1806)
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