USS Muscatine (ID-2226)

AlternateTextHere
Career (USA)
Name:	Muscatine
Namesake:	A city and county in Iowa named for an Native American word meaning “dweller in the prairie”
Builder:	Standard Shipbuilding Corp., Shooters Island, New York
Laid down:	20 October 1917 as SS Scandinavic
Acquired:	by the U.S. Navy 28 April 1918
Commissioned:	2 May 1918 as USS Muscatine (ID 2226)
Decommissioned:	16 July 1919 at New York City
Renamed:	Stian (date unknown); Muscatine (date unknown)
Struck:	date unknown
Fate:	sold in 1929
Notes:	torpedoed and sunk 20 May 1942 in the Yucatan Channel by the German submarine U-103
General characteristics
Type:	commercial refrigerator ship
Displacement:	10,502 tons
Length:	392' 6"
Beam:	52'
Draft:	23'
Propulsion:	not known
Speed:	10.5 knots
Crew:	108 crew members
Armament:	one 5-inch gun and one 3-inch gun

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

USS Muscatine (ID-2226) was a Norwegian refrigerator ship (reefer ship) obtained by the U.S. Navy from the United States Shipping Board (USSB) during World War I. She served for the duration of the war, carrying “beef and butter” for military personnel in Europe.

She returned to commercial service after the war, and, during World War II, she had the unfortunate fate of being struck by torpedoes from a German submarines, and sinking in the Yucatan Channel.

Built at Shooters Island

Muscatine, a refrigerator ship built in 1917 as Stian by Standard Shipbuilding Corps., Shooters Island, New York, for the Norwegian firm, Salveson, Chr. & Co., was commandeered by USSB and transferred to the Navy 28 April and commissioned 2 May 1918, Lt. Comdr. Jesse Smith, USNRF, in command.

World War I service

After refitting and loading a mixed cargo of Navy supplies Muscatine cleared Halifax in convoy 30 May bound for France. Arriving at St. Nazaire 14 June, she discharged her cargo, proceeded to Verdun, and departed in convoy for New York 7 July. In the subsequent months the ship made five more round trip voyages to St. Nazaire with cargoes of beef and butter.

After completing her last run early in July 1919, Muscatine decommissioned at New York City 16 July 1919 and returned to USSB. In 1929 she was sold to F. D. M. Stracham, Savannah, Georgia, and the following year renamed Floridian.

Subsequent career and fate

In 1936 she was renamed Elizabeth. And, during World War II, she was torpedoed and sunk 20 May 1942 in the Yucatan Channel by the German submarine U-103.

See also

• United States Navy
• World War I
• World War II

References

• This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• NavSource Online: Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive - Muscatine (ID 2226)