USS West Avenal (ID-3871)
West Avenal near the time of her completion in February 1919 |
|
| Career | |
|---|---|
| Owner: | United States Shipping Board |
| Builder: | Western Pipe and Steel Company San Francisco, California |
| Yard number: | 3 |
| Launched: | 13 October 1918 |
| Completed: | 1 February 1919 |
| Acquired: | 1 February 1919 |
| Commissioned: | 1 February 1919 |
| Decommissioned: | 5 April 1919 |
| Identification: | IMO number: 2217522 |
| Fate: | scrapped, 27 August 1929 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | cargo ship |
| Tonnage: | 5,692 GRT |
| Displacement: | 12,200 t |
| Length: | 410 ft 5 in (125.10 m) (LPP) 427 ft 0 in (130.15 m) (LOA) |
| Beam: | 54 ft 0 in (16.46 m) |
| Draft: | 24 ft 2 in (7.37 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 29 ft 9 in (9.07 m) |
| Propulsion: | 1 × steam turbine |
| Speed: | 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph) |
| Capacity: | 8,735 long tons deadweight (DWT) |
| Complement: | 70 |
| Armament: | None |
USS West Avenal (ID-3871) was a cargo ship in the United States Navy during World War I. She had been built as SS West Avenal for the United States Shipping Board (USSB) as part of the West boats, a series of steel-hulled cargo ships built on the West Coast of the United States. West Avenal was launched in October 1918 by the Western Pipe and Steel Company of San Francisco, California, and delivered to the US Navy when she was completed in February 1919. After she was commissioned and had taken on a load of flour, West Avenal sailed to Norfolk, Virginia, where she was decommissioned in early April.
Though little is available regarding West Avenal's civilian career, she is known from contemporary news account to have visited ports in Spain, Italy, France, Brazil and Uruguay in the early 1920s. In January 1920, West Avenal was rammed by a British cargo ship in New York Harbor and was grounded to prevent her sinking. By late 1928, West Avenal had been abandoned by the USSB, and was scrapped in August 1929.
Read more about USS West Avenal (ID-3871): Design and Construction, Career
Famous quotes containing the word west:
“All good biography, as all good fiction, comes down to the study of original sin, of our inherent disposition to choose death when we ought to choose life.”
—Rebecca West (1892–1983)