USS ''Mexican'' (ID-1655) was a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. Cargo ships are usu ...

and animal transport in commission from 1917 to 1919. She operated as the commercial

steamship A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...

SS ''Mexican'' from 1907 to 1917 and from 1919 to 1948.

Construction

SS ''Mexican'' was built in 1907 at

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the mo ...

, by the Union Iron Works as a commercial cargo ship for the

American-Hawaiian Steamship Company The American-Hawaiian Steamship Company was founded in 1899 to carry cargos of sugar from Hawaii to the United States and manufactured goods back to Hawaii. Brothers-in-law George Dearborn and Lewis Henry Lapham were the key players in the fou ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

World War I

The

United States Department of War The United States Department of War, also called the War Department (and occasionally War Office in the early years), was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army, a ...

acquired ''Mexican'' for World War I service on a

bareboat charter A bareboat charter or demise charter is an arrangement for the chartering or hiring of a ship or boat, whereby no crew or provisions are included as part of the agreement; instead, the people who rent the vessel from the owner are responsible ...

basis on 10 December 1917. On 23 December 1917, the Department of War transferred ''Mexican'' to the U.S. Navy, which gave her the naval registry Identification Number (Id. No.) 1655 and commissioned her the same day as USS ''Mexican''. Manned by U.S. Navy personnel and operated on a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

account, ''Mexican'' was assigned to the

Naval Overseas Transportation Service Military Sealift Command (MSC) is an organization that controls the replenishment and military transport ships of the United States Navy. Military Sealift Command has the responsibility for providing sealift and ocean transportation for all US ...

and served as an

animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and go through an ontogenetic stage ...

transport through the end of World War I. ''Mexican'' was in port at St. Nazaire, France on 13 May 1918 when a fire broke out aboard her. Lookouts aboard the cargo ship USS ''Alaskan'' (ID-4542), lying directly astern of ''Mexican'', spotted the fire breaking out. ''Alaskan'' called away her fire and

rescue Rescue comprises responsive operations that usually involve the saving of life, or the urgent treatment of injuries after an accident or a dangerous situation. Tools used might include search and rescue dogs, mounted search and rescue ...

party, which aided ''Mexicans men in controlling the blaze before it did serious damage. On 13 December 1918, ''Mexican'' was transferred to the Cruiser and Transport Force for use as a troop transport. Refitted for that purpose by the U.S. Army, she steamed on round-trip voyages from the

United States East Coast The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, the Atlantic Coast, and the Atlantic Seaboard, is the coastline along which the Eastern United States meets the North Atlantic Ocean. The eastern seaboard contains the coa ...

to Europe for several months in 1919, bringing American troops who had completed their war service in Europe home to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

. The Navy returned ''Mexican'' to the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company on 4 August 1919. She returned to commercial service as SS ''Mexican''.

World War II

The U.S.

War Shipping Administration The War Shipping Administration (WSA) was a World War II emergency war agency of the US government, tasked to purchase and operate the civilian shipping tonnage the United States needed for fighting the war. Both shipbuilding under the Maritime C ...

converted ''Mexican'' to an animal transport ship from late August to October 1944. Departing on 22 October 1944 she moved 648

mule The mule is a domestic equine hybrid between a donkey and a horse. It is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). The horse and the donkey are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes; of the two ...

s and six

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million ...

s from

Port of New Orleans The Port of New Orleans is an embarkation port for cruise passengers. It is also Louisiana’s only international container port. The port generates $100 million in revenue annually through its four lines of business – cargo (46%), rail (31%) ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, to

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, com ...

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

, a 58-day trip. For the remainder of World War II she moved mules and horses for the war effort.

Relief and "seagoing cowboys"

In 1946, ''Mexican'' was used as

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...

ship, informally also called a "

cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the ''vaquero'' ...

ship." From 1945 to 1947 the

United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) was an international relief agency, largely dominated by the United States but representing 44 nations. Founded in November 1943, it was dissolved in September 1948. it became part o ...

and the Brethren Service Committee of the

Church of the Brethren The Church of the Brethren is an Anabaptist Christian denomination in the Schwarzenau Brethren (german: link=no, Schwarzenauer Neutäufer "Schwarzenau New Baptists") tradition that was organized in 1708 by Alexander Mack in Schwarzenau, Ger ...

– which had founded its Heifers for Relief project, in 1942; in 1953 this became Heifer International – sent livestock to war-torn countries in the aftermath of World War II. These " seagoing cowboys" made about 360 trips on 73 different ships. SS ''Mexican'' was one of these ships, and she moved livestock across the Atlantic Ocean. ''Mexican'' made several trips and took horses, several thousand baby chicks, and bales of hay to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

on each trip. ''Mexican'' moved horses, heifers, and mules as well as some chicks, rabbits, and goats.Seacowboys report
/ref>

Disposal

SS ''Mexican'' was scrapped in 1948.

References

* (for USS ''Mexican'' (ID-1655)) * (for USS ''Alaskan'' (ID-4542))
Department of the Navy: Naval Historical Center Online Library of Selected Images: U.S. Navy Ships: USS ''Mexican'' (ID # 1655), 1917-1919. Previously, and later, the civilian freighter ''Mexican'' (1907)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mexican (Id-1655) World War I cargo ships of the United States Transports of the United States Navy Ships built in San Francisco 1907 ships Cargo ships of the United States Navy Ships built by Union Iron Works