SS West Humhaw shortly after launch on 28 August 1918 and before the completion of her superstructure.
History
Name
SS West Humhaw
Operator
U.S. Navy 18
U.S. Shipping Board 19
American-West African Line 24
Builder
Skinner & Eddy
Yard number
30 (USSB #1183)
Laid down
27 June 1918
Launched
28 August 1918
Acquired
14 September 1918
Commissioned
16 September 1918–27 January 1919
In service
16 September 1918–8 November 1942
Fate
Torpedoed and sunk by U-161 off Takoradi, Ghana, 8 November 1942
General characteristics
Type
Design 1013 cargo ship
Tonnage
5,600 gross, 8,800 dwt
Displacement
12,225 tons
Length
423 ft 9 in (129.16 m)
410 ft 5 in (125.10 m) bp
Beam
54 ft (16 m)
Draft
24 ft 2 in (7.37 m)
Depth of hold
29 ft 9 in (9.07 m)
Installed power
1 × Curtis geared turbine
Propulsion
Single screw
Speed
11.5 kn (21.3 km/h)
Complement
World War I (USN): 94
Peacetime: about 30
World War II: 54 (38 crew, 16 armed guards)
Armament
World War I: 1 × 5"/51 cal, 1 × 3"/50 cal
World War II: 1 × 4", 2 × 20mm AA, 2 × .30 cal. MG
SS West Humhaw was a steel–hulled cargo ship built in 1918 as part of the United States Shipping Board's emergency World War I shipbuilding program.
The ship was delivered just weeks before the end of the war and immediately commissioned into the U.S. Navy as USS West Humhaw (ID-3718), but completed only one relief mission on the Navy's behalf before decommissioning in January 1919. West Humhaw subsequently operated as a merchant ship, firstly in transatlantic service and later on the trade routes between the U.S. and Africa.
With the outbreak of World War II, West Humhaw participated in a small number of Allied convoys before being sunk by U-161 off Takoradi, Ghana on 8 November 1942.
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