.jpg) West Bridge indazzle camouflage shortly before completion in May 1918 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USSWest Bridge (ID-2888) |
| Builder | |
| Yard number | 11[1] |
| Launched | 24 April 1918[2] |
| Completed | 26 May 1918[2] |
| Acquired | 26 May 1918[3] |
| Commissioned | 26 May 1918[3] |
| Decommissioned | 1 December 1919[3] |
| Identification |
|
| Fate | Returned toUnited States Shipping Board |
| History | |
| Name | |
| Namesake | 1945:Mikhail Lermontov |
| Owner |
|
| Operator |
|
| Port of registry |
|
| Fate | Scrapped atSplit,Yugoslavia, 29 June 1966[2] |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Cargo ship |
| Tonnage | |
| Displacement | 12,200 long tons (12,400 t)[3] |
| Length | |
| Beam | 54 ft 0 in (16.46 m)[3] |
| Draft | 24 ft 1 in (7.34 m) (mean)[3] |
| Depth of hold | 29 ft 9 in (9.07 m)[3] |
| Propulsion | 1 ×triple-expansion steam engine,[5] 2,500 hp (1,900 kW)[4] |
| Speed | 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h)[3] |
| Complement | 88 (as USSWest Bridge)[3] |
| Armament |
|
USSWest Bridge (ID-2888) was aDesign 1013cargo ship in theUnited States Navy duringWorld War I. She was begun asWar Topaz for the British Government but was completed asWest Bridge (though referred to in some publications under the spellingWestbridge). After being decommissioned from the Navy, the ship returned to civilian service asWest Bridge, but was renamedBarbara Cates, andPan Gulf over the course of her commercial career under Americanregistry.
West Bridge was one of theWest ships, a series of steel-hulled cargo ships built for theUnited States Shipping Board (USSB) on theWest Coast of the United States. She waslaunched in April 1918 and delivered to the U.S. Navy upon completion in May. After commissioning, USSWest Bridge sailed from thePacific Northwest to theEast Coast of the United States and joined a convoy of cargo ships headed to France in August. After the ship suffered an engine breakdown at sea the convoy was attacked by twoGerman submarines andWest Bridge was torpedoed and abandoned. A salvage crew from the American destroyerSmith boarded her the following day, and, working with fourtugs dispatched from France, successfully brought the ship into port. Four men received theNavy Cross for their efforts.
After seven months of repair,West Bridge resumed Navy service until her December 1919 decommissioning and return to the USSB. She was laid up from 1922 to 1929, when she was sold for service on an intercoastal cargo service under the nameBarbara Cates. By 1938, the ship had been renamedPan Gulf for service with a subsidiary of theWaterman Steamship Company. During World War II,Pan Gulf made nine round trips between the United States and theUnited Kingdom without incident in wartime convoys. She also sailed betweenNew York and ports on theGulf Coast and in theCaribbean. In May 1945, she was transferred to theSoviet Union underLend-Lease. RenamedLermontov, the ship sailed in support of the war and continued in civilian service for the Soviets until 1966, when she was scrapped atSplit,Yugoslavia.
To replace shipping tonnage lost to German submarines duringWorld War I, the BritishShipping Controller sought newly built ships from American shipyards.[12] As part of 700,000long tons (710,000 t) of shipping which had been ordered by March 1917,[12] an order for nine vessels of 8,800 long tonsdeadweight (DWT) was placed withJ. F. Duthie & Company ofSeattle.[13][14][Note 1] Because the United States had not yet entered World War I, the Shipping Controller could not order the ships directly and so, to skirt neutrality laws, these orders were made on the government's behalf by theCunard Steamship Company.[15] The Duthie companylaid down the keel ofWar Topaz as the eleventh ship begun at their shipyard.[2]
On 6 August 1917, theEmergency Fleet Corporation—an entity created by the USSB shortly after the United States entered the war on 6 April and tasked with overseeing U.S. shipbuilding—requisitioned most ships under construction in the United States;[16] included among those wasWar Topaz.[1] By the time of her 24 April 1918launch, the ship had been renamedWest Bridge,[2] becoming one of theWest ships,cargo ships of similar size and design built by several shipyards on theWest Coast of the United States.[17] Just a bit over one month later, on 26 May, the finishedWest Bridge was delivered to the United States Navy.[3]
As completed, the steel-hulled three-hold ship was 409 feet 5 inches (124.79 m) long (between perpendiculars), 54 feet (16.5 m)abeam, anddrew 24 feet 1 inch (7.34 m).West Bridge had adisplacement of 12,200 long tons (12,400 t), and her 29-foot-9-inch (9.07 m) depth of hold allowed the ship to be rated at 5,799 gross register tons (GRT).[2][3] The ship was powered by a singlesteam turbine engine of 2,500 horsepower (1,900 kW), built by theDe Laval Steam Turbine Company inTrenton, New Jersey.[14] allowing the singlescrew propeller to move the ship at up 11 knots (20 km/h).[2] For her U.S. Navy service in World War I,West Bridge was equipped with one 4-inch (102 mm) and one 3-inch (76 mm) gun.[3]
USSWest Bridge (ID-2888) wascommissioned into theNaval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS) at thePuget Sound Navy Yard on 26 May.West Bridge took on an initial load offlour and departed 10 June for theEast Coast.[Note 2] Along the way, the ship developed troubles with her engine, which required putting in atBalboa in thePanama Canal Zone for repairs. Getting underway again on 4 July,West Bridge sailed for New York, arriving on 16 July.[3]
After refueling at New York,West Bridge joined Convoy HB-8 bound for France, sailing on 1 August in company with Navy cargo shipWest Alsek,United States Army transportMontanan, and 13 others.[18] Escorted by armed yachtNoma, destroyersBurrows andSmith, and French cruiserMarseillaise,[3][19] the convoy was 500 nautical miles (900 km) west of its destination ofLe Verdon-sur-Mer by the end of the day on 15 August.[18][20]
At 17:40,West Bridge's engine broke down once again and her crew was unable to repair it. Falling off the back of the convoy and adrift, she signaledMarseillaise to request a tow. At sundown, shortly before 18:00,Montanan—still in the convoy, which was by now 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) ahead ofWest Bridge—was hit by one of three torpedoes launched by German submarineU-90.Montanan began to settle and was quickly abandoned. OnWest Bridge, Lieutenant Commander Hawkins realized the potential for another submarine attack and ordered his crew togeneral quarters and reduced the number of men in the mechanical spaces below decks.Noma sailed back toWest 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 forward, destroying the cargo ship'swireless, the second amidships near the engine room.West Bridge immediately began listing tostarboard, and Hawkins ordered the crew to abandon ship. He and two crewmen remained behind until he felt sure that everyone else had departed. By the time the three left the stricken ship, water was up to thegunwales and lapping at thewell deck.[3]
Immediately after the attack,Noma sped off todepth charge the submarine while sending anSOS forWest Bridge. DestroyerBurrows arrived to take onWest Bridge's survivors, who had situated themselves about a mile (2 km) from the still-floating ship. After the survivors boarded the destroyer, a head count revealed that four men were missing, but also turned up two femalestowaways.[3]
By the morning of 16 August, bothMontanan andWest Bridge were still afloat, with decks awash. Attempts to getMontanan under tow failed, and she foundered later in the morning. Meanwhile, Hawkins and hisexecutive officer were taken by boat toWest Bridge to assess her situation. After boarding the ship and finding three cargo holds and her engineering spaces completely flooded, Hawkins advisedBurrows' captain that the situation was hopeless and he would only be endangering his ship, crew, and theWest Bridge survivors by remaining alongside. Consequently,Burrows departed forBrest, France, leaving the destroyerSmith to stand by the stricken vessel.[3]
A volunteer work and salvage party fromSmith, led byLieutenantRichard L. Conolly,[3] and which includedChief Boatswain's Mate John Henry Caudell,[21]Carpenter's Mate, 3rd class Walter Homer Todd,[22] andCoxwain John Robert Nuttall,[23] boardedWest Bridge and awaited fourtugs which had been dispatched from Brest: the U.S. NavyFavorite,[24] two French tugs, and one British tug. Over the course of the next five days, the tugs, joined by patrol yachtIsabel, slowly towedWest Bridge to the French coast, eventually arriving at Brest. The ship was towed over 400 nautical miles (740 km) with only 1%buoyancy remaining.[3] Conolly, Caudell, Todd, and Nuttall were each awarded theNavy Cross for their efforts in saving the ship; W. W. Wotherspoon, the fleet salvage officer onFavorite, was also honored with a Navy Cross, in part for his salvage efforts forWest Bridge.[24][Note 3]
The extent of the damage and the condition ofWest Bridge led to some erroneous reports of her loss. News articles on 24 August in bothThe New York Times and theChicago Daily Tribune reported the sinking,[25] and the mistaken information was recorded by authorsBenedict Crowell and Robert Forrest Wilson in their workThe Road to France: The Transportation of Troops and Military Supplies, 1917–1918.[26]
AfterWest Bridge underwent seven months of repairs, the ship resumed service with the NOTS through 1 December 1919, at which time she was decommissioned and handed over to the USSB.[3]
The United States Official Number 216348 andCode Letters LKRQ were allocated to the ship.[27] Little is known aboutWest Bridge's activities after her return to the USSB in 1919, but in June 1922 she was laid up inPhiladelphia, where she remained for almost seven years. In March 1929, the USSB approved the sale ofWest Bridge for $57,000 to theSudden & Christenson of San Francisco.[11] Before re-entering service her steam turbine machinery was removed and replaced by atriple-expansion steam engine built by theHooven, Owens, & Rentschler Company ofHamilton, Ohio.[5][14] The engine, with cylinders of24+1⁄2,41+1⁄2, and 72 inches (62, 105, and 180 cm) diameter with a 48-inch (120 cm)stroke,[5] was capable of generating up to 2,500 horsepower (1,900 kW), allowing a speed of 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h).[3][4] By May, the ship had been renamedBarbara Cates and was slated for service on the intercoastal freight service of theirArrow Line, which sailed to thePacific coast fromBaltimore,Norfolk, Virginia,Savannah, Georgia andJacksonville, Florida. The addition ofBarbara Cates and other ships purchased around the same time allowed the Arrow Line to increase its sailings fromfortnightly to once every ten days.[28]Barbara Cates' nine years with the Arrow Line were uneventful.
In 1934, her Code Letters were changed to KJOO.[29] By October 1938,[30] the ship had been renamedPan Gulf to reflect the naming style of her new owners, the Pan-Atlantic Steamship Company, a subsidiary ofWaterman Steamship Company.[2][31] The Pan-Atlantic Line sailed in coastal service along theAtlantic andGulf coasts, and it is likely thatPan Gulf called at typical Pan-Atlantic ports such as Baltimore,Miami,Tampa,New Orleans, Philadelphia, New York, andBoston during this time.[32]
In October 1941,The Christian Science Monitor reported thatPan Gulf had become stuck in the mud offGovernors Island after her crew misjudged how far to back out of her berth at the Army base there. The first, unsuccessful attempt to freePan Gulf involved eight tugs, but the ship did not budge. The newspaper, which had also reported that there was no apparent damage toPan Gulf in the grounding, carried no further reports on the ship.[33]
After the United States enteredWorld War II,Pan Gulf frequently sailed inconvoys on the North Atlantic, as well as some in theCaribbean and theGulf of Mexico. Between April and September 1942,Pan Gulf made two roundtrips from the U.S. toLiverpool.[34] In September, the cargo ship sailed from New York to the Caribbean to take on a load ofbauxite in early November,[35] and then sailed on toGalveston, Texas, before returning to New York in mid-February 1943.[34]
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 forHalifax. In July, theUnited States Maritime Commission (USMC) purchasedPan Gulf from the Pan-Atlantic Line, overpaying her value by 16 times, according to SenatorGeorge Aiken (R–VT).[36]
On 5 May 1945, the USMC turned overPan Gulf to theFar East Shipping Company (FESCO) of theSoviet Union underLend-Lease;[37] FESCO renamed the shipLermontov (Russian:Лермонтов,IPA:[ˈlʲerməntəf]) after the poetMikhail Lermontov. The Soviets armed the ship with a 4-inch (100 mm) gun and other weapons and employed her in cargo duties in support of the war.[37]
At war's end,Lermontov remained with FESCO through 1950. At that time she was transferred to theBlack Sea Shipping Company, with which she remained into the 1960s.[4]Lermontov was delivered toshipbreakers Brodospas inSplit,Yugoslavia on 26 June 1966.[2]
