| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USSWest Mead orWestmead |
| Namesake | Previous name retained |
| Builder | Ames Shipbuilding and Drydock Company,Seattle, Washington |
| Launched | 27 August 1918 |
| Completed | 1918 |
| Acquired | late October 1918 |
| Commissioned | 29 October 1918 |
| Decommissioned | 9 June 1919 |
| Stricken | 9 June 1919 |
| Fate | Transferred toU.S. Shipping Board 9 June 1919 |
| Notes |
|
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Cargo ship |
| Tonnage | 5,620 GRT |
| Displacement | 12,175 long tons (12,370 t) |
| Length | 423 ft 9 in (129.16 m) |
| Beam | 54 ft 0 in (16.46 m) |
| Draft | 24 ft 11.25 in (7.6010 m) mean |
| Depth of hold | 29 ft 9 in (9.07 m) |
| Propulsion | 1 × 2,500 ihp (1,900 kW)triple-expansionsteam engine, one shaft |
| Speed | 10.5knots (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph) |
| Complement | 113 |
USSWest Mead (ID-3548), also spelledWestmead, was aUnited States Navycargo ship in commission from 1918 to 1919.
West Mead waslaid down as the commercialsteel-hulled, single-screw,coal-burningsteam cargo ship SSWar Dido for theUnited States Shipping Board by theAmes Shipbuilding and Drydock Company atSeattle, Washington; her name later was changed to SSWest Mead orWestmead and she was completed in 1918. On 26 October 1918, the13th Naval District inspectedWest Mead for possible U.S. Navy service duringWorld War I. The Shipping Board transferred her to the U.S. Navy, the Navy assigned her the naval registry identification number 3550, and she wascommissioned on 29 October 1918 as USSWest Mead orWestmead (ID-3548).
Assigned to theNaval Overseas Transportation Service,West Mead loaded 6,865tons offlour, departed thePacific Northwest on 15 November 1918 (four days after theArmistice with Germany had brought World War I to an end on 11 November 1918), transited thePanama Canal, and stopped atBalboa in thePanama Canal Zone. She then proceeded from Balboa toNew York City, where she arrived on 14 December 1918. Shebunkered and underwent repairs at New York.
West Mead departed New York on 24 December 1918 inconvoy for theUnited Kingdom and arrived atFalmouth, England, on 9 January 1919. She moved toRotterdam in theNetherlands on 24 January 1919 and unloaded her cargo of flour there. She returned to theUnited States inballast, arriving at New York City on 3 March 1919.
West Mead next proceeded from New York City toSavannah, Georgia, where she took on board a cargo ofcotton andlumber. She departed Savannah on 2 April 1919 bound for the United Kingdom, and reachedLiverpool, England, on 21 April 1919. She discharged her cargo there, then returned to Savannah, where she arrived on 7 June 1919.
West Mead was bothdecommissioned and stricken from theNavy List on 9 June 1919, and the Navy transferred her back to the U.S. Shipping Board the same day. She then operated commercially as SSWestmead under the ownership of the Shipping Board until she was laid up in the late 1920s.
In 1927, the Shipping Board soldWestmead to theBabcock Steamship Company of New York City, which returned her to service and renamed her SSWillanglo. In 1929, thePacific-Atlantic Steamship Company ofPortland, Oregon, purchased her and renamed her SSSan Angela.
In response to the need caused byGermansubmarine activity in theNorth Atlantic Ocean againstAllied convoy routes early inWorld War II, theBritish government acquired a number of former U.S. Shipping Board ships under both American private and government ownership;San Angela was among them. She was sold to the BritishMinistry of War Transport in 1940 and renamed SSEmpire Springbuck, and operated under the management ofW. A. Souter and Company ofNewcastle-upon-Tyne, England.
Empire Springbuck was on the second leg of a voyage fromCuba toLeith, Scotland, viaSydney,Nova Scotia, Canada, when the German submarineU-81torpedoed and sank her offCape Farewell,Greenland, on 9 September 1941.[1]
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in September 1941 | |
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