Design and Construction
The West ships were cargo ships of similar size and design built by several shipyards on the West Coast of the United States for the United States Shipping Board (USSB) for emergency use during World War I. All were given names that began with the word West, like West Avenal, one of some 15 West ships built by the Western Pipe and Steel Company of San Francisco, California.
West Avenal (Western Pipe and Steel No. 3) was launched on 13 October 1918, and delivered to the Navy upon completion on 1 February 1919. The ship was 5,692 gross register tons (GRT), and was 410 feet 5 inches (125.10 m) long (between perpendiculars) and 54 feet (16.5 m) abeam. West Avenal had a steel hull and a 29-foot-9-inch (9.07 m) deep hold. She displaced 12,200 t, and had a deadweight tonnage of 8,735 DWT.
In common with the first eight ships built by Western Pipe & Steel, West Avenal was powered by a single General Electric steam turbine rated at 2,500 shaft horsepower, that drove a single screw propeller, and moved the ship at a 10.5 kn (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph) pace. These General Electric turbines proved unreliable and most of the ships powered by them were either lost or scrapped by the end of the 1920s. Later vessels of the same type built by WPS for the USSB were powered by much more reliable Joshua Hendy triple expansion steam engines, and had considerably longer service lives.
Read more about this topic: USS West Avenal (ID-3871)
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