USS Wassaic (ID-3230)

SS Wassaic, probably just after completion in mid-1918 and just prior to her U.S. Navy service as USS Wassaic (ID-3230)
Career (United States)
Name:	USS Wassaic
Namesake:	Wassaic, New York; the word "wassaic" is an Native American term meaning "difficult" or "hard work" (previous name retained)
Builder:	Los Angeles Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Los Angeles, California
Launched:	14 April 1918
Commissioned:	14 October 1918
Decommissioned:	29 May 1919
Struck:	29 May 1919
Fate:	Returned to United States Shipping Board, 29 May 1919 Scrapped ca. 1931-1932
Notes:	Built for United States Shipping Board as SS Wassaic in 1918; in Shipping Board custody as SS Wassaic from 1919 to ca. 1931-1932.
General characteristics
Type:	Design 1013 ship
Tonnage:	5,898 gross tons
Displacement:	12,186 tons
Length:	423 ft 9 in (129.16 m)
Beam:	54 ft 0 in (16.46 m)
Draft:	24 ft 2 in (7.37 m) mean
Depth:	29 ft 9 in (9.07 m)
Speed:	11.5 knots
Complement:	82
Armament:	1 x 5-inch (127-millimeter) gun 1 x 3-inch (76.2-millimeter) gun

USS Wassaic (ID-3230) was a cargo ship that served in the United States Navy from 1918 to 1919.

SS Wassaic was a steel-hulled, single-screw freighter built under a United States Shipping Board contract. She was launched on 14 April 1918 by the Los Angeles Shipbuilding and Drydock Company at Los Angeles, California. Subsequently taken over by the U.S. Navy for World War I use by the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS) and given Identification Number (Id. No.) 3230, she was commissioned at New Orleans, Louisiana, as USS Wassaic (ID-3230) on 14 October 1918 with Lieutenant Commander George H. Cooke, USNRF, in command.

Wassaic loaded 7,468 tons of United States Army supplies and got underway for Bordeaux, France, on 10 November 1918, the day before the armistice with Germany was signed, ending World War I. En route to Europe, Wassaic encountered mechanical difficulties and was obliged to put into New York City on 16 November 1918 for repairs. Underway again on 29 November 1918, Wassaic, rerouted in light of the war's end, sailed for Brest, France, instead of Bordeaux.

Arriving at Brest on 13 December 1918, Wassaic got underway for the United States on 31 December 1918. After a stop at Corona, Spain, for repairs to her damaged propeller, Wassaic got underway from Corona on 6 January 1919. Following stops at the Azores and Bermuda, she made port at Newport News, Virginia, on 7 February 1919.

Wassaic took on a cargo of railroad supplies and departed the United States East Coast on her second NOTS voyage on 10 March 1919, bound for La Pallice, France. Arriving there on 23 March 1919, she discharged her cargo and returned to the United States, heavily ballasted partly with a cargo of steel rails. Putting briefly into Norfolk, Virginia, on 22 April 1919, Wassaic sailed for New Orleans on 23 April 1919, arriving there on 29 April 1919. Discharging her cargo of steel there, she shifted to New York. There, after final repairs and inventories, Wassaic was decommissioned, struck from the Navy List, and returned to the United States Shipping Board, all on 29 May 1919.

Wassaic remained in Shipping Board ownership until she was abandoned due to age and deterioration in 1931 or 1932.

References

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

External links

• Department of the Navy: Naval Historical Center Online Library of Selected Images: Civilian Ships: S.S. Wassaic (American Freighter, 1918). Served as the USS Wassaic (ID # 3230) in 1918-1919