 Hawkeye State in the 1920s, which became USSHugh L. Scott in 1941 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | |
| Namesake |
|
| Operator |
|
| Builder | Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation[2] |
| Cost | $6,664,521.20[3] |
| Yard number | 4180 |
| Launched | 17 April 1920[1] |
| Completed | 1921[2] |
| Acquired | for the US Army, 31 July 1941 |
| Commissioned | into the US Navy, 7 September 1942 |
| Out of service | 12 November 1942[1] |
| Stricken | 7 December 1942 |
| Identification |
|
| Fate | Sunk 12 November 1942[1] |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Design 1029 ship known commercially as "535" Type |
| Tonnage | |
| Length | |
| Beam | 72.2 ft (22.0 m)[2] |
| Draft | 30 ft 6 in (9.30 m) |
| Depth | 27.8 ft (8.5 m)[2] |
| Propulsion | 4steam turbines, twinscrews[2] |
| Speed | 18 kn (21 mph; 33 km/h)[1] |
| Sensors & processing systems |
|
USSHugh L. Scott (AP-43) was aHugh L. Scott-classtransport ship. She was built in 1921 and spent 20 years inmerchant service as a passenger andcargo liner. In July 1941 the ship was delivered to theUnited States Department of War forArmy service as the United States Army TransportHugh L. Scott operating in the Pacific. In August 1942 the ship was transferred to theUnited States Navy for conversion to an attack transport, served as atroopship inOperation Torch in November 1942, and was sunk by aU-boat four days later. 59 crewmen and soldiers died during the sinking.
The vessel was designed to be a troopship,[1] ordered by theUnited States Shipping Board (USSB) fromBethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation,Sparrows Point, Maryland, and laid down in 1920 asBerrien. RenamedHawkeye State the ship was launched on 17 April 1921 and given the United States official number 220987.[1][4] The ship, hull number 4180 and the first of a series, was anEmergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) Design 1029 and one of eight contracted ships of the design for Bethlehem Shipbuilding of which five were built after cancellations.[4] The Design 1029 ships were first known, along with the slightly smallerDesign 1095 or "502s" built only byNew York Shipbuilding Corporation, as the "State" ships, as all were given state nicknames until all but four were renamed by May 1922 for United States presidents.[3][4] In later commercial service they were frequently known as the "535s" for their length overall.[4][5]
Hawkeye State was aturbine steamship, with four steam turbines driving twinpropeller shafts bysingle reduction gearing giving a service speed of 17.5 knots (32.4 km/h).[1][2][6]
On 5 March 1921Hawkeye State, the largest combined passenger and cargo vessel of the USSB ever to put into a Pacific port, arrived in San Francisco to beginMatson Line service.[5] Matson operatedHawkeye State betweenBaltimore andHonolulu via thePanama Canal and California.[1] In 1922, she passed to thePacific Mail Steamship Company,[1] which was taken over byRobert Dollar in 1925. She was then transferred toDollar Steamship Company, which renamed herPresident Pierce.[1] In 1938, Dollar was reorganised asAmerican President Lines.[1]
Dollar Line putPresident Pierce on trans-Pacific services betweenSan Francisco and the Far East until 1931, when she was switched to a round-the-world service.[1] Her first circumnavigation began atNew York on 19 November 1931, going via thePanama Canal, California,Japan,China,Malaya,Ceylon, theSuez Canal, theMediterranean and thence back to New York.[1] She completed a total of five such trips, beginning her final one from New York on 2 June 1933.[1]
Early on the morning of 11 December 1937, a much larger Dollar Lines ship, theocean linerPresident Hoover, ran aground in atyphoon onKasho-to, east ofFormosa.[7]Hoover's 330 crew got their 503 passengers and themselves safely ashore without loss, but the 853 people now needed to be taken off the remote island.[7] The task was shared betweenPresident Pierce andAmerican Mail Line'sSSPresident McKinley.[7]McKinley, assisted by theJapanese cruiser Ashigara, collected about 630 people from Kasho-to on 14 December.Pierce collected the remaining 200 people on 15 December.[7]
On 31 July 1941,President Pierce was delivered by American President Lines to theWar Department at San Francisco for operation by theUS Army, which renamed her USATHugh L. Scott afterGeneralHugh L. Scott, who was Army Chief of Staff 1914–17 and interimSecretary of War February—March 1916.[8] The ship made one round trip to Honolulu before voyaging toManila and redelivered to American President Lines for a specialState Department mission toHong Kong andShanghai.[8] In late October she returned to San Francisco by way of Manila to make one more round trip to Manila returning to San Francisco 25 December 1941.[8] The ship made two trips to Australia in early 1942 and was then ordered to theUS East Coast arriving at New York in July 1942.[8]
On 30 April 1942, the 32nd Infantry Division boarded a convoy of sevenMatson Line ships, includingHugh L. Scott and theS.S.Lurline at Pier 42 in San Francisco. The convoy (SF 43) was escorted by the cruiserUSSIndianapolis and two corvettes.[9][10] Taking a southerly route to avoid the Japanese Navy, they arrived in southern Australia atPort Adelaide on 14 May 1942, having traveled 9,000 miles (14,000 km) in 23 days.[11]
On 14 August 1942, she was transferred to theUS Navy and converted into an attack transport byTietjen and Long ofHoboken, New Jersey. On 7 September 1942, she was commissioned as USSHugh L. Scott, under the command ofCaptain Harold J. Wright.
Hugh L. Scott took part inOperation Torch, the Allied invasion of FrenchNorth Africa. As part of Transport Division 3 (TransDiv 3), she sailed on 24 October after intensiveamphibious training. She approached the beaches atFedhala,French Morocco, early on the morning of 8 November and landed her troops. She then cleared the immediate invasion area and did not return until 11 November, when she entered the refueling area and then anchored in the exposed Fedhala roadstead to unload her supplies.
TheNaval Battle of Casablanca delayed the off-loading ofHugh L. Scott's cargo and her departure from the Moroccan coast. On the evening of 11 November,U-173 slipped inside the protective screen and torpedoed transportJoseph Hewes, tankerWinooski and destroyerHambleton.Hugh L. Scott and the other transports were at battle stations all night and resumed unloading the next day. That afternoon, 12 November, another submarine,U-130, commanded byErnst Kals, torpedoedHugh L. Scott,[1]Edward Rutledge, andTasker H. Bliss.
Hugh L. Scott, hit on thestarboard side, burst into flames and foundered, but owing to the availability oflanding craft for rescue, casualties were limited to eight officers and 51 men.U-173 was later sunk by destroyers, butU-130 escaped.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.33°40′N7°35′W / 33.667°N 7.583°W /33.667; -7.583
