USS West Bridge

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West Bridge shortly before completion in May 1918
West Bridge shortly before completion in May 1918
History
U.S. Navy
NameUSS West Bridge (ID-2888)
Builderlist error: <br /> list (help)
J. F. Duthie & Company
Seattle, Washington
Yard number11[2]
Launched24 April 1918[1]
Completed26 May 1918[1]
Acquired26 May 1918[3]
Commissioned1 February 1919[3]
Decommissioned1 December 1919[3]
IdentificationIMO number: 5520680[1]
Fatereturned to United States Shipping Board
History
Namelist error: <br /> list (help)
1919–1929: West Bridge
1929–1939: Barbara Cates
1939–1945: Pan Gulf
Acquired1 December 1919
Ownerlist error: <br /> list (help)
1919–1929: U.S. Shipping Board
1929–1939: Sudden and Christenson Steamship Co.
1939–1940: Waterman Steamship Co.
1940–1943: Pan Atlantic Steamship Co.
1943–1945: U.S. Maritime Commission
Fatetransferred to Soviet Union under Lend-Lease, 4 May 1945
History
Civil Ensign of the Soviet UnionSoviet Union
NameSS Lermontov (Лермонтов in Cyrillic)[5]
NamesakeMikhail Lermontov
Acquired4 May 1945[4]
Operatorlist error: <br /> list (help)
1945–1950: FESCO[5]
1950–1966: Black Sea Shipping Co.[5]
Fatescrapped at Split, 1 December 1966[4]
General characteristics
Typecargo ship
Tonnage5,799 GRT GRT uses unsupported parameter (help)[1]
Displacement12,200 t[3]
Lengthlist error: <br /> list (help)
409 ft 5 in (124.79 m) (LPP)[1]
423 ft 9 in (129.16 m) (overall)[3]
Beam54 ft 0 in (16.46 m)[3]
Draft24 ft 1 in (7.34 m) (mean)[3]
Depth of hold29 ft 9 in (9.07 m)[3]
Propulsion1 × steam turbine, [1] 2,500 horsepower (1,900 kW)[5]
Speed10.5 knots (19.4 km/h)[3]
Capacity8,594 LT DWT DWT uses unsupported parameter (help)[6]
Complement88 (as USS West Bridge)[3]
Armamentlist error: <br /> list (help)
World War I:
1 × 4-inch (100 mm)} gun
1 × 3-inch (76 mm) gun[3]

USS West Bridge (ID-2888) was a cargo ship in the United States Navy during World War I. She was begun as SS War Topaz but had been completed as SS West Bridge (sometimes referred to as SS Westbridge) for the United States Shipping Board (USSB) as part of the West boats, a series of steel-hulled cargo ships built on the West Coast of the United States.

Design and construction

The West ships were cargo ships of similar size and design built by several shipyards on the West Coast of the United States for the United States Shipping Board (USSB) for emergency use during World War I. All were given names that began with the word West, like West Bridge,[7] one of some 27 West ships built by the J. F. Duthie & Company of Seattle, Washington.[2]

West Bridge (J. F. Duthie No. 11[2] was laid down as War Topaz but launched on 24 April 1918 as West Bridge, and delivered to the United States Navy upon completion on 26 May.[3][1] The ship was 5,799 GRT GRT uses unsupported parameter (help),[1] and was 409 feet 5 inches (124.79 m) long (between perpendiculars) and 54 feet (16.5 m) abeam. West Bridge had a steel hull with a 29-foot-9-inch (9.07 m) deep hold.[3] She displaced 12,200 t, and had a mean draft of 24 feet 1 inch (7.34 m).[3] The ship had a single steam turbine that drove a single screw propeller, and moved the ship at a 10.5–11-knot (19.4–20.4 km/h) pace.[3][1]

Military career

USS West Bridge (ID-2888) was commissioned into the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS) at the Puget Sound Navy Yard on 26 May with Lieutenant Commander Mortimer Hawkins, USNRF, in command. West Bridge took on an initial load of flour and departed 10 June for the East Coast.[Note 1] Along the way, the ship developed troubles with her steam turbine which required her to put in at Balboa in the Panama Canal Zone for repairs. Getting under way again on 4 July, West Bridge sailed for New York, arriving on 16 July.

After refueling at New York, West Bridge joined Convoy HB-8 bound for France, sailing on 1 August in company with Navy cargo ship West Alsek, United States Army transport Montanan, and 13 others.[8] Escorted by armed yacht Noma, destroyers Burrows and Smith, and French cruiser Marseillaise,[3][9] the convoy was some 500 nautical miles (900 km) west of its destination of Le Verdon-sur-Mer by the end of the day on 15 August.[8][10]

Torpedo attack

At 17:40, West Bridge's turbine broke down once again and her crew was unable to repair it. West Bridge, falling off the back of the convoy and adrift, signaled Marseillaise to request a tow. At sundown, shortly before 18:00, Montanan—still in the convoy, which was by now some 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) ahead of West Bridge—was hit by one of three torpedoes launched by German submarine U-90. Montanan began to settle and was quickly abandoned. On West Bridge, Lieutenant Commander Hawkins realized the potential for another submarine attack and ordered his crew to general quarters and reduced the number of men in the mechanical spaces below decks. Noma sailed back to West Bridge, ordered the freighter to extinguish her lights, and stood by. At nearly the same time, U-107 approached and launched two torpedoes at the stationary cargo ship, scoring hits with both. The first struck near the No. 3 cargo hold in the front of the ship, while the second hit amidships near the engine room. West Bridge immediately began listing to starboard, and Hawkins ordered the crew to abandon the vessel. He and two crewmen remained behind until they felt sure that everyone else had departed. By the time they left the stricken ship, water was up to the gunwales and lapping at the well deck.[3]

Immediately after the attack, Noma had sped off to depth charge the submarine, while sending an SOS for West Bridge, since the initial explosion had destroyed the cargo ship's wireless. Destroyer Burrows arrived to take on West Bridge's survivors, who had situated themselves about a mile (2,000 m) from the still-floating West Bridge. After boarding the destroyer, a head count was conducted that revealed four men missing, but also turned up two female stowaways among the survivors.[3]

By the morning of 16 August, both Montanan and West Bridge were still afloat, albeit with decks awash. Despite attempts to get Montanan under tow, she foundered later in the morning. Meanwhile, Hawkins and his executive officer were taken by boat to West Bridge to assess her situation. After boarding the ship and finding three cargo holds and her engineering spaces completely flooded, Hawkins advised Burrows's captain that the situation was hopeless and that he would only be endangering his ship, crew, and the West Bridge survivors by remaining alongside. Consequently, Burrows departed for Brest, France, leaving destroyer Smith to stand by West Bridge.[3]

A volunteer work and salvage party from Smith, led by Lieutenant Richard L. Conolly,[3] and which included Chief Boatswain's Mate John Henry Claudell,[11] and Construction Mechanic, 3rd class Walter Homer Todd,[12] boarded West Bridge and awaited four tugs—the U.S. Navy's tug Favorite,[13] along with two French, and one British tug—which had been dispatched from Brest. Over the course of the next five days, the tugs, joined by patrol yacht Isabel, slowly made their way to the French coast, eventually arriving at Brest. West Bridge had been towed over 400 nautical miles (740 km) with only 1% buoyancy remaining.[3] Conolly, Claudell, and Todd were all awarded the Navy Cross for their efforts in saving West Bridge; W. W. Wotherspoon, the fleet salvage officer on Favorite was also honored with a Navy Cross, in part for his salvage efforts for West Bridge.[13][Note 2]

Torpedo damage to USS West Bridge seen in a French drydock c. 1918. One of the ship's boilers is visible in the left rear.

The extent of the damage and the condition of West Bridge led to some erroneous reports of her loss. News articles on 24 August in both The New York Times and the Chicago Daily Tribune reported the loss of West Bridge,[14] and the mistaken information also made it into book form. In their work The Road to France: The Transportation of Troops and Military Supplies, 1917–1918, Benedict Crowell and Robert Forrest Wilson repeat the misinformation about the loss of West Bridge.[15]

After West Bridge underwent seven months of extensive repairs, the ship resumed service with the NOTS through 1 December, at which time she was decommissioned and handed over to the USSB.[3]

Interwar years

Little is known about West Bridge's activities after her return to the USSB in 1919, but in June 1922 she was laid up in Philadelphia, where she would remain for almost seven years. In March 1929, the USSB approved the sale of West Bridge for $57,000 to the Sudden and Christenson Steamship Company of San Francisco.[6] By May, the ship had been renamed Barbara Cates and was slated for service on the intercoastal freight service of their Arrow Line, which sailed to the Pacific coast from Baltimore; Norfolk, Virginia; Savannah, Georgia; and Jacksonville, Florida. The addition of Barbara Cates and other ships purchased around the same time allowed the Arrow Line to increase its sailings from fortnightly to once every ten days.[16] Barbara Cates's nine years with the Arrow Line were uneventful.

By October 1938,[17] the ship had been renamed Pan Gulf to reflect the naming style of her new owners, the Pan-Atlantic Steamship Company, a subsidiary of Waterman Steamship Company.[1][18] The Pan-Atlantic Line sailed in coastal service along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, and it is likely that Pan Gulf called a typical Pan-Atlantic ports such as Baltimore, Miami, Tampa, New Orleans, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston during this time.[19]

SS Pan Gulf sailed in 18 transatlantic convoys, like this typical one, seen in 1942.

In October 1941, The Christian Science Monitor reported that Pan Gulf had become stuck in the mud off Governors Island after her crew misjudged how far to back out of her berth at the Army base there. The first, unsuccessful attempt to free Pan Gulf from her predicament involved eight tugs, but the ship had not budged. The newspaper, which had also reported that there was no apparent damage to Pan Gulf in the grounding, carried no further reports on the ship.[20]

World War II

After the United States entered World War II, Pan Gulf frequently sailed in convoys on the North Atlantic, as well as some in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. Between April and September 1942, Pan Gulf made two roundtrips from the U.S. to Liverpool.[21] In September, the cargo ship sailed from New York to the Caribbean to take on a load of bauxite in early November,[22] and then sailed on to Galveston, Texas before returning to New York in mid-February 1943.[21]

In late February, Pan Gulf began the first of a further seven roundtrips to the United Kingdom over the next 21 months, when she sailed from New York in Convoy HX-228 for Halifax. In July, the United States Maritime Commission (USMC) purchased Pan Gulf from the Pan-Atlantic Line, overpaying her value by some sixteen times, according to Senator George Aiken (R-VT).[23]

On 5 May 1945, the USMC turned over Pan Gulf to the Far East Shipping Company (FESCO) of the Soviet Union under Lend-Lease,[4] who renamed the ship SS Lermontov (Лермонтов in Cyrillic).[5] The Soviets armed the ship with a 4-inch (100 mm) gun and other weapons and employed the ship in cargo duties in support of the war.[4]

Later career

Lermontov remained with FESCO through 1950, at which point she was transferred to the Black Sea Shipping Company, with whom she remained into the 1960s.[5] On 1 December 1966, Lermontov was delivered to shipbreakers in Split where she was scrapped later in the month.[4]

Notes

  1. ^ The West ships, to avoid sailing empty to the East Coast, loaded grain products intended for the United Kingdom, France, and Italy and sailed to Europe without unloading or transferring their cargo. This avoided extra handling of the cargo and the United States Shipping Board, by prior arrangement, then received an equivalent amount of cargo space in foreign ships for other American cargos. See: Crowell and Wilson, pp. 358–59.
  2. ^ In addition to his salvage work on West Bridge, Wotherspoon was honored for his efforts for Westward Ho, Mount Vernon, Conner, and Murray. See: Stringer, p. 147.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "West Bridge". Miramar Ship Index. R.B.Haworth. Retrieved 2008-09-01.
  2. ^ a b c Colton, Tim. "J. F. Duthie & Company, Seattle WA". Shipbuildinghistory.com. The Colton Company. Retrieved 2008-09-01.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Naval Historical Center. "West Bridge". DANFS.
  4. ^ a b c d e Radigan, Joseph M. (2006). "West Bridge (ID 2888)". Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive. NavSource Online. Retrieved 2008-09-04.
  5. ^ a b c d e f "Реестр флота ДВМП: Лермонтов (Pan Gulf)" (in Russian). FESCO Transport Group. Retrieved 2008-09-04. Google translation into English.
  6. ^ a b "Shipping Board approves sale". Los Angeles Times. 27 March 1929. p. 13.
  7. ^ Crowell and Wilson, pp. 358–59.
  8. ^ a b Naval Historical Center. "West Alsek". DANFS.
  9. ^ Mann. "Burrows". DANFS.
  10. ^ "Montanan". Miramar Ship Index. R.B.Haworth. Retrieved 2008-09-04.
  11. ^ Stringer, p. 54.
  12. ^ Stringer, p. 137.
  13. ^ a b Stringer, p. 147.
  14. ^ "Three of our ships torpedoed; 19 missing from the crews". The New York Times. 24 August 1918. p. 1. "3 U. S. ships in foreign waters sunk by U-boats". Chicago Daily Tribune. 24 August 1918. p. 2.
  15. ^ Crowell and Wilson, p. 530.
  16. ^ Drake, Waldo (13 May 1929). "Shipping news and activities at los angeles harbor". Los Angeles Times. p. 14.
  17. ^ Lafourche, J. B. (8 October 1938). "Longshoreman injured". The Pittsburgh Courier. p. 23.
  18. ^ Finch, Ted. "WWI Standard Ships: T". WWI Standard Built Ships. Mariners. Retrieved 2008-09-04. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  19. ^ de la Pedraja Tomán, p. 564.
  20. ^ "Stuck in mud craft awaits high tide aid". The Christian Science Monitor. 13 October 1941. p. 2.
  21. ^ a b "Port Arrivals/Departures: Pan Gulf". Arnold Hague's Ports Database. Convoy Web. Retrieved 2008-09-04.
  22. ^ "Convoy TAG.18". Arnold Hague Convoy Database. ConvoyWeb. Retrieved 2008-09-04.
  23. ^ Associated Press (24 October 1943). "Aiken scores ship deal". The New York Times. p. 38.

Bibilography

External links

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