USS Absaroka (1917)

SS ''Absaroka'' was a steamer, named after the Absaroka Range of mountains in Montana and Wyoming, completed in February 1918 for the United States Shipping Board (USSB) which briefly operated the ship. From 17 September 1918 to 4 March 1919 the ship was commissioned as USS ''Absaroka'' with the identification number IX-2581 in United States Navy and operated by the Naval Overseas Transportation Service.

The ship was returned to the USSB which operated the vessel until sold in 1927 to McCormick Steamship Company. In 1940 ''Absaroka'' was sold to Pope & Talbot, Inc. which operated it until sold foreign in April 1946. On 24 December 1941 the ship was torpedoed and damaged by torpedo off the California coast. During World War II the War Shipping Administration (WSA) took control of all oceanic shipping with ''Absaroka'' delivered to WSA 9 May 1942 to be operated by Pope & Talbot for WSA under Army and general standard agreements. On 9 April 1946 the ship was redelivered to Pope & Talbot and sold 14 April 1946 to the Greek government and then operated as ''Prima Vista'' or ''Primavista'' until 1948. The ship was then sold to other foreign interests operating as ''Panenterprise'' to 1952 and finally ''Maryland'' until broken up in 1954.

Construction

''Absaroka'' was an Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) Design 1013 cargo ship built in 1917 for the United States Shipping Board (USSB) by Skinner & Eddy Company, Seattle, Washington as USSB number 84, yard number 15, U.S. Official Number 215986 with signal LJQR. The single 2,700 h.p. triple expansion steam engine was built by Seattle Machine Works.

Operation

The USSB took delivery of ''Absaroka'' on completion in February 1918 for operation. On 17 September 1918 the ship was taken over by the Navy on a bare boat charter basis, assigned identification number IX-2581 and commissioned USS ''Absaroka'' under the command of Lieutenant commander O. W. Hughes for operation in the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS).

Between October 1918 and February 1919, the ship made two transatlantic voyages carrying Army cargo to ports in France, England, and the Netherlands. During her second trip, ''Absaroka'' rescued the captain and crew of the disabled British steamer ''War Marvel'' and landed them safely at Falmouth, England.

The ship arrived in New York City on 12 February 1919 and was immediately drydocked for overhaul. ''Absaroka'' was decommissioned on 4 March 1919 and returned to the United States Shipping Board. The USSB sold the ship with requirements for specified alterations and improvements to the McCormick Steamship Company for $131,000 before 30 June 1927. From 1927 to 1940 ''Absaroka'' was operated by McCormick which in 1935 was acquired by Pope & Talbot, Incorporated to become legally identified as the Pope & Talbot-McCormick Steamship Division. From 1940 the ship was operated as a lumber carrier under the Pope & Talbot identity.Both McCormick Steamship and Pope & Talbot originated in the Pacific Northwest lumber business. See the article Port Gamble, Washington sections Sale of Puget Mill Company and the next section Creation of Pope & Talbot Co. for some of the background. In 1946 the McCormick Steamship name, legally identified as the Pope & Talbot-McCormick Steamship Division, itself was absorbed into the Pope & Talbot identity.

''Absaroka'' was torpedoed and damaged by the off Point Fermin, California, and beached off Fort MacArthur on 24 December 1941. The attack was one of the opening incidents of what is called the Battle of Los Angeles during which American merchant ships were attacked by Japanese submarines in waters off the West Coast from the last half of December 1941 through February 1942. Other ships attacked during this event were , escaped shelling and torpedoes as did , , ''Connecticut'' and ''Idaho'' but with damage. ''H.M. Storey'' escaped but sank later. , , , ''Camden'' and were sunk.

The ship was delivered to the War Shipping Administration on 9 May 1942 for operation by Pope & Talbot as the administration's agent. The operating agreement was for Army Transportation Corps requirements until 16 August 1943 when it was changed to a General Agency Agreement. On 9 April 1946 ''Absaroka'' was delivered to Pope & Talbot as owner at San Francisco.

Post-war service

On 14 April 1946 Pope & Talbot sold ''Absaroka'' to the Greek government. It passed into the ownership of J A Cosmas, and was registered in Panama as ''Primavista'' or ''Prima Vista'' under the registered ownership of Compañia Marítima Samsoc Limitada S.A., Panama.Sources vary of whether it was ''Prima Vista'' or ''Primavista'' with MARAD and DANFS using ''Prima Vista'', while Lloyd's Register of Shipping and later sources have ''Primavista''. In 1948 the vessel was sold to Primavista Compañia de Navegación S.A., under the management of Pietro Ruggiero, and remaining under the Panamanian flag as ''Panenterprise''. In 1948-49 the ship made at least three trips from Europe to Buenos Aires and brought a small number of immigrants. The ship was again sold in 1952, again with Panamanian registration, and renamed ''Maryland'' in the ownership of The Tidewater Commercial Company Inc., based in Baltimore, Maryland, though controlled by the Italian shipowner Albert Ravano.

The ship was broken up in 1954, either by Patapsco Scrap Company at Baltimore, or by Shipbreaking Industries Ltd, Faslane, Scotland, arriving on 9 April.

Footnotes

References

External links

Ship photos, including after torpedo attack, at MARAD under "Images"

{{DEFAULTSORT:Absaroka
1917 ships
Ships built in Seattle
Ships built by Skinner & Eddy
World War I cargo ships of the United States
Design 1013 ships of the United States Navy
Maritime incidents in December 1941