West Cohas slides down the ways at her launching on 4 June 1918
History
United States
Name
USS West Cohas (ID-3253)
Builder
Skinner & Eddy
Seattle, Washington
Yard number
24[2]
Laid down
2 April 1918[1]
Launched
4 June 1918[1]
Completed
29 June 1918[1]
Commissioned
29 June 1918[3]
Decommissioned
9 May 1919[3]
Fate
Returned to USSB
History
Name
West Cohas
Owner
1919–33: United States Shipping Board
1933–40: Lykes Brothers Steamship Company
1940–45: Ministry of War Transport
Route
1926: Galveston – London[6]
Identification
1919–40: US official number 216549;[4] Signal code LMCP
;[4]
1940–45: UK official number 168015;[5] Signal code GLNN
[5]
Fate
Scuttled 11 September 1945[7]
General characteristics
Type
Cargo ship
Tonnage
5,647 GRT;[4]
tonnage under deck 5,173;[4]
3,465 NRT[4]
Displacement
12,225 t[3]
Length
409.6 ft (124.8 m) (LPP)[4]
423 ft 9 in (129.16 m) (overall)[3]
Beam
54.2 ft (16.5 m)[4]
Draught
24 ft 2 in (7.37 m) (mean)[3] or 27.1 ft (8.3 m)[4]
Installed power
2,700 bhp (2,000 kW)[citation needed]
Propulsion
General Electric double reduction-geared steam turbine[4]
Speed
10.5 knots (19.4 km/h) (1918)[3]
Capacity
56 passengers (1919)[8]
Complement
73[3]
Armament
1 × 4-inch (100 mm) gun
1 × 3-inch (76 mm) gun (1918)[3]
SS Empire Simba was a British steam-powered cargo ship. She was originally an American ship, launched in 1918 as SS West Cohas. During a stint in the United States Navy from 1918 to 1919, she was called USS West Cohas (ID-3253).
West Cohas was built in 1918 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 for the World War I war effort. She was the 24th ship built by Skinner & Eddy of Seattle, Washington, and was completed in 88 calendar days. She was commissioned into the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS) of the United States Navy as USS West Cohas (ID-3253) in June 1918. After several overseas trips for the Navy, she was decommissioned in May 1919 and returned to the USSB.
West Cohas ran aground off Sable Island in 1925 while trying to assist a vessel in distress, but otherwise had a relatively uneventful merchant career for the USSB. In 1933, she was sold to the Lykes Brothers Steamship Company. In 1939, she collided with the Irish passenger ship Munster, which damaged both vessels. In June 1940, West Cobalt was sold to British interests and renamed Empire Simba.
During convoy service in World War II, Empire Simba initially sailed between the United Kingdom and North America carrying cargos of scrap iron from the United States. She was bombed by a German aircraft on 1 March and abandoned. She was towed to port for repairs but was struck by a German land mine dropped in a bombing raid. After six months of repairs, she began sailing roundtrips to Freetown, Sierra Leone. On one return voyage to the UK in July 1944, she collided with another ship in the convoy. After splitting the rest of the war between voyages to North America and Africa, Empire Simba was loaded with chemical weapons in August 1945 and scuttled west of Ireland.
^ abcSkinner & Eddy (October 1918). "Consistent Building Record (display advertisement)". Pacific Marine Review. San Francisco: J.S. Hines: 143. OCLC 2449383.
^Colton, Tim. "Skinner & Eddy, Seattle WA". Shipbuildinghistory.com. The Colton Company. Archived from the original on 16 September 2008. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
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suicide". Orange County Register. Park, Do-Hyoung (January 31, 2021). "Simba out to 'keep everybody on their toes'". MLB.com. Retrieved January 31, 2021...
Aitheras Aviation Group United States AFN African International Airlines SIMBA Lesotho HD ADO AIRDO AIR DO Japan ACC Airspeed Charter Jamaica 2014 PNX...
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com. Retrieved May 16, 2016. Guggisberg, Charles Albert Walter (1961). Simba: the life of the lion. Cape Town: Howard Timmins. "BC Zalgiris Kaunas basketball...