USS Absecon (ID-3131)

Career (United States)
Name:	USS Absecon
Namesake:	Absecon Inlet in New Jersey
Builder:	New York Shipbuilding Company, Camden, New Jersey
Completed:	1918
Commissioned:	Never
In service:	In non-commissioned status on 12 October 1918
Out of service:	5 November 1918
Honors and awards:	World War I Victory Medal with Armed Guard Clasp
General characteristics
Type:	Cargo ship
Propulsion:	Single screw
Armament:	Armed, but type of armament unknown

For other ships of the same name, see USS Absecon.

The first USS Absecon (ID-3131) was a freighter that operated in the United States Navy in 1918. She was the first U.S. Navy ship to be named for Absecon Inlet, a small inlet north of Atlantic City, New Jersey.

On 17 June 1918, officers of the U.S. Navy's 4th Naval District inspected Absecon, a single-screw, steel-hulled freighter built in 1918 by the New York Shipbuilding Company in Camden, New Jersey. Although the Navy gave the ship Identification Number (Id. No.) 3131, as it did with most commercial cargo ships and tankers commissioned into U.S. Navy service for use in World War I, the United States Government never took possession of the ship. However, she was armed, and a Navy armed guard crew was placed on board the ship.

Absecon earned the World War I Victory Medal with Armed Guard Clasp for service between 12 October 1918 and 5 November 1918. She then left naval service.

References

• This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.