USS West Gate (ID-3216) - Design and Construction

Design and Construction

The ship was laid down at the Columbia River Shipbuilding Company of Portland, Oregon under the name War Agate as part of an order for the British Admiralty. Had she been sold to them, the War Agate would have been operated by the Cunard Line. However, the commandeered and received title to all private shipbuilding projects in progress in mid-1917, which included the still-incomplete War Agate. The ship was renamed West Gate by the time of her launching on 27 January 1918. She was one of the West ships, which were cargo ships of similar size and design built by several shipyards on the West Coast of the United States for the for emergency use during the First World War. All of the West ships were given names that began with the word West, and West Gate was the 3rd of some 30 West ships built at Columbia River Shipbuilding.

West Gate was 5,799 gross register tons (GRT), and was 410 feet 1 inch (124.99 m) long (between perpendiculars) and 54 feet (16.5 m) abeam. She had a steel hull that displaced 12,185 t with a mean draft of 24 feet 1 inch (7.34 m). Her hold was 29 feet 9 inches (9.07 m) deep. West Gate's power plant consisted of a single steam turbine driving a single screw propeller which moved the ship at up to 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h).