SS ''Mongolia'' was a 13,369-ton passenger-and-cargo liner originally built for

Pacific Mail Steamship Company The Pacific Mail Steamship Company was founded April 18, 1848, as a joint stock company under the laws of the State of New York by a group of New York City merchants. Incorporators included William H. Aspinwall, Edwin Bartlett (American consul ...

in 1904. She later sailed as USS ''Mongolia'' (ID-1615) for the U.S. Navy, as SS ''President Fillmore'' for the Dollar Line and as SS ''Panamanian'' for Cia Transatlantica Centroamericano.

History

Originally laid down as ''Minnelora'' on 7 June 1902 in Shipway J at

New York Shipbuilding The New York Shipbuilding Corporation (or New York Ship for short) was an American shipbuilding company that operated from 1899 to 1968, ultimately completing more than 500 vessels for the U.S. Navy, the United States Merchant Marine, the United ...

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a City (New Jersey), city in Camden County, New Jersey, Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan region. The city was incorporated on February 13, 1828.Snyder, John P''The Story of ...

for the

Atlantic Transport Line The Atlantic Transport Line was an American passenger shipping List of ship companies, line based in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1901 the company was folded into the International Mercantile Marine Company (IMM). History The line developed with rail ...

, she was purchased by E. H. Harriman's Pacific Mail Steamship Co. for its San Francisco-Far East service, and renamed ''Mongolia''. The 616-foot vessel was contract #5 for the young company, and the first passenger-cargo liner built by the firm. She was launched on 25 July 1903 and christened by Miss Lucy Bell Kennedy of

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

. A sister ship, , was ordered at the same time and delivered three months after ''Mongolia.'' Both ships were used on the trans-Pacific service (Hong Kong, Hawaii, San Francisco) from 1904 to 1915. The accommodations of both ships reflected the importance of

Chinese emigration Waves of Chinese emigration have happened throughout history. They include the emigration to Southeast Asia beginning from the 10th century during the Tang dynasty, to the Americas during the 19th century, particularly during the California go ...

to shipping lines of that era: 350 first-class, 68 second-class, and 1,300

steerage Steerage is a term for the lowest category of passenger accommodation in a ship. In the nineteenth and early twentieth century, considerable numbers of persons travelled from their homeland to seek a new life elsewhere, in many cases North Amer ...

. In early August 1915, Pacific Mail announced it could not affordably meet the language clause of the

Seamen's Act The Seamen's Act, formally known as Act to Promote the Welfare of American Seamen in the Merchant Marine of the United States or Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (Act of March 4, 1915, ch. 153, 38 Stat1164, was designed to improve ...

in the

Far East The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including North Asia, North, East Asia, East and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term. In mod ...

and intended to cease commercial shipping operations there. Later that month, the company sold five of its

liners "Liners" is a horticultural term referring to very young plants, usually grown for sale to retailers or wholesalers, who then grow them to a larger size before selling them to consumers. Liners are usually grown from seed, but may also be grown ...

, including ''Mongolia'', to

, for whom she plied the New York-London route. In March 1917, following the German declaration of a submarine blockade around Britain, ''Mongolia'' was chartered as an Army transport and received a self-defense armament of three deck guns manned by U.S. Navy gun crews. One month later, ''Mongolia'' became the first American vessel to test the blockade, using those guns to drive off (and possibly sink) a

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

seven miles southeast of

Beachy Head Beachy Head is a Chalk Group, chalk headland in East Sussex, England. It is situated close to Eastbourne, East Sussex, Eastbourne, immediately east of the Seven Sisters, Sussex, Seven Sisters. Beachy Head is located within the administrative ar ...

, in the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

. That was the first armed encounter for an American vessel after the US's entry to

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. For the next year, ''Mongolia'' ferried American troops and supplies to Europe. Two American nurses,

Clara Ayres Clara Ayres (September 16, 1880 – May 17, 1917) was an American nurse who joined the United States Army during the First World War. Ayres and Helen Burnett Wood were the first two women to be killed while serving in the United States military, ...

and Helen Burnett Wood, were accidentally killed during one of these crossings, and another was wounded. During the afternoon of 20 May 1917, the nurses were on the deck of the ''Mongolia'', observing the firing of the aft 6-inch gun, when they were struck by fragments of the shell's brass casing. On 27 April 1918, the US Navy requisitioned the vessel, reconfigured her for greater troop capacity, and commissioned her on 8 May as USS ''Mongolia'' (ID-1615). In all, she completed twelve turnarounds at an average duration of 34 days and transporting over 33,000 passengers, before being decommissioned on 11 September 1919. Returned to civilian service, ''Mongolia'' sailed the New York-Hamburg route under charter to the American Line. She was purchased in 1923 by the

Panama Pacific Line Panama Pacific Line was a subsidiary of International Mercantile Marine (IMM) established to carry passengers and freight between the US East Coast of the United States, East and West Coast of the United States, West Coasts via the Panama Canal. H ...

and placed into service on its New York-San Francisco route (via the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...

). In 1929, Dollar Steamship Lines acquired ''Mongolia'' and her sister ship ''Manchuria'' for its east-to-west round-the-world service, renaming them ''President Fillmore'' and ''President Johnson'', respectively. The former ''Mongolia'' sailed for only two years with the Dollar Line. With the onset of the Great Depression, she was laid up in New York, and when the Dollar Line collapsed in 1938 ownership passed to the newly created

American President Lines American President Lines, LLC, is an American container shipping company that is a subsidiary of French shipping company CMA CGM. It operates an all-container ship fleet, including nine U.S. flagged container vessels. In 1938, the U.S. governm ...

. She never sailed under the APL pennant, however, and was sold in 1940 to Cia Transatlantica Centroamericana of Panama, which renamed her ''Panamanian''. She was scrapped in Shanghai, China, 20 May 1946. One of the deck guns from the ''Mongolia's'' World War I service, the Mark 4 6 inch, 40 Caliber Gun No. 155, is preserved in Gosport Park outside the

Norfolk Naval Shipyard The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, often called the Norfolk Navy Yard and abbreviated as NNSY, is a U.S. Navy facility in Portsmouth, Virginia, for building, remodeling and repairing the Navy's ships. It is the oldest and largest industrial facility ...

Portsmouth, Virginia Portsmouth is an Independent city (United States), independent city in southeastern Virginia, United States. It lies across the Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth River from Norfolk, Virginia, Norfolk. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mongolia Ocean liners Ships built by New York Shipbuilding Corporation World War I auxiliary ships of the United States Transports of the United States Navy 1903 ships Cargo liners

History

References

Further reading

External links