SS Iowan

In May 1912, the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company placed an order with the Maryland Steel Company of Sparrows Point, Maryland, for two new cargo ships—Iowan and {{SS|Ohioan|1914|2}}.Maryland Steel had built three ships—{{SS|Kentuckian||2}}, Georgian, and Honolulan—for American-Hawaiian in 1909 in what proved to be a satisfactory arrangement for both companies. In September 1911 and November 1912, American-Hawaiian placed an order for Iowan{{'}}s six older sister ships; {{SS|Minnesotan||2}}, {{SS|Dakotan||2}}, {{SS|Montanan||2}}, and {{SS|Pennsylvanian||2}} in the earlier order, {{SS|Washingtonian||2}} and {{SS|Panaman||2}} in the latter. The contract cost of the ships was set at the construction cost plus an 8% profit for Maryland Steel, but with a maximum cost of $640,000 per ship. The construction was financed by Maryland Steel with a credit plan that called for a 5% down payment in cash with nine monthly installments for the balance. Provisions of the deal allowed that some of the nine installments could be converted into longer-term notes or mortgages. The final cost of Iowan, including financing costs, was $71.95 per deadweight ton, which came out to just over $732,000.

Iowan (Maryland Steel yard no. 132) was the first ship built under the contract. She was launched on 24 January 1914, and delivered to American-Hawaiian on 16 May. The ship was {{GRT|6,529|disp=long}}, and was {{convert|407|ft|7|in|m}} in length (between perpendiculars) and {{convert|53|ft|6|in|m}} abeam. She had a deadweight tonnage of {{DWT|10,175|long}}, and her cargo holds, which had a storage capacity of {{convert|490859|cuft}}, were outfitted with a complete refrigeration plant so that she could carry perishable products from the West Coast—like fresh produce from Southern California farms—to the East Coast.{{cite news | title = California cargo of produce shipped to East | work = Los Angeles Times | date = 3 October 1914 | page = II–8 }} Iowan had a single steam engine powered by oil-fired boilers that drove a single screw propeller at a speed of {{convert|14|knots|km/h}}.

When Iowan began sailing for American-Hawaiian, the company shipped cargo from East Coast ports via the Straits of Magellan to West Coast ports and Hawaii, and vice versa.Prior to the 21 April 1914 United States occupation of Veracruz, American-Hawaiian had used the Tehuantepec Route, but after the U.S. action, that route was closed by the Huerta-led Mexican government. Shipments on that Tehuantepec Route would arrive at Mexican ports—Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, for eastbound cargo, and Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, for westbound cargo—and would traverse the Isthmus of Tehuantepec on the Tehuantepec National Railway. See: Hovey, p. 78. Eastbound shipments were primarily sugar and pineapple from Hawaii, while westbound cargoes were more general in nature.Cochran and Ginger, p. 355–56. With the opening of the Panama Canal on 15 August 1914, American-Hawaiian ships switched to taking that route.Cochran and Ginger, p. 360.

At 15:20 on 15 October 1914, the outbound Iowan rammed the United Fruit Company passenger and cargo steamer Metapan at the entrance of Ambrose Channel outside New York. Metapan had stopped in the dense fog, but Iowan was traveling at a rapid pace. When Iowan had appeared out of the fog some {{convert|200|to|300|yd|m}} from Metapan, the United Fruit ship sounded three blasts on the ship's whistle—warning Iowan of the impending collision. Iowan{{'}}s captain did not alter the ship's course, but did drop her anchor to try to slow the fully laden ship. Nevertheless, Iowan gashed the bow of Metapan and traveled almost halfway through the passenger ship. When Iowan pulled out three minutes later, Metapan began to sink rapidly. Metapan{{'}}s captain ordered his ship to sail at full speed for shoals some {{convert|200|yd|m}} distant, on which the ship grounded in {{convert|18|ft|m}} of water. A variety of craft—including the nearby British Royal Navy cruiser {{HMS|Lancaster|1902|2}}—responded to Metapan{{'}}s SOS. Even though the ship was resting on the bottom and the passengers in no immediate danger, most of the 78 passengers and 90 crewmen evacuated the ship in lifeboats and were picked up by rescue craft.Metapan had been carrying $500,000 in gold bars from Colombia and was also transporting James Campbell Besley's scientific expedition returning from Peru with two Incan mummies, Incan jewelry and other artifacts, and {{convert|10000|ft|m}} of motion pictures documenting their finds. See: {{cite news | url = https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1914/10/16/100678523.pdf | title = Liner Metapan sunk in harbor crash; 168 saved | work = The New York Times | date = 16 October 1914 | access-date = 2008-08-25 | pages = 1, 7 }}
Metapan was raised and repaired, but sank again, this time permanently, when she struck a mine off North Africa during World War II. See: {{cite DANFS | last = Mann | first = Raymond A. | title = Bernadou | url = http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/b5/bernadou-i.htm | date = 15 February 2006 | access-date = 25 August 2008 }} Iowan, which suffered no casualties among her crew, attempted to return to her pier in Brooklyn, but was unable and instead anchored in Ambrose Channel.{{cite news | url = https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1914/10/16/100678523.pdf | title = Liner Metapan sunk in harbor crash; 168 saved | work = The New York Times | date = 16 October 1914 | access-date = 25 August 2008 | pages = 1, 7 }} Iowan{{'}}s damage was restricted to her bow, which was crushed above the waterline. Two days later, The Wall Street Journal reported that Iowan was anchored off Clifton, Staten Island, and awaiting inspection from surveyors.{{cite news | title = Trans-Atlantic ship news | work = The Wall Street Journal | date = 17 October 1914 | page = 6 }}

File:SS Metapan sunk by the SS Iowan.JPG

After repairs and return to service, Iowan resumed her inter-coastal service. In May 1915, she was delayed by a large Pacific storm that was responsible for the sinking of the steamer Victoria, and also damaged {{SS|Northern Pacific||2}} and {{SS|Harvard||2}}.{{cite news | title = Big storm subsiding | work = Los Angeles Times | date = 2 May 1915 | page = I–1 }} In mid-September the same year, Iowan sailed from Boston for the West Coast. She arrived at Cristóbal, the Atlantic terminus of the Panama Canal, to find the canal closed by a major landslide—more than {{convert|1000000|cuyd}} of mud and dirt had collapsed into the Gaillard Cut.{{cite news | title = Slide in Gaillard Cut blocks waterway traffic and canal may be closed for months to come | newspaper = The Washington Post | date = 19 December 1915 | page = R9 }}{{cite news | url = https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1915/10/05/105041298.pdf | title = Must close canal for rest of month | work = The New York Times | date = 5 October 1915 | access-date = 2008-08-25 | page = 4 }} Initially, American-Hawaiian had Iowan wait in case the canal would soon reopen,{{cite news | title = Ship's in port via Cape Horn | work = Los Angeles Times | date = 27 November 1915 | page = II–7 }}{{cite news | title = Around the horn again | work = Los Angeles Times | date = 7 October 1915 | page = II–1 }} but when it became apparent that the closure would last some time, perhaps as long as ten months,{{cite news | url = https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1915/10/14/105043056.pdf | title = Goethals tackles long canal fight | work = The New York Times | date = 14 October 1915 | access-date = 25 August 2008 | page = 3 }}The canal finally reopened to shipping traffic on 15 April 1916. See: {{cite news | title = Panama Canal opens to ship traffic again | work = The Christian Science Monitor | date = 15 April 1916 | page = 18 }} Iowan was sent around South America to her destinations, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The Los Angeles Times reported that one portion of Iowan{{'}}s delayed cargo consisted of Christmas toys for Los Angeles merchants. The newspaper went on to predict that the delay would be "very disastrous" for the holiday season.{{cite news | title = Toys delayed | work = Los Angeles Times | date = 17 October 1915 | page = I–10 }}

The balance of Iowan{{'}}s activities over the next two years are unclear. She may have been in the half of the American-Hawaiian fleet that was chartered for transatlantic service. She may also have been in the group of American-Hawaiian ships chartered for service to South America, delivering coal, gasoline, and steel in exchange for coffee, nitrates, cocoa, rubber, and manganese ore.Cochran and Ginger, p. 362.

On 23 December 1917, some seven months after the United States declared war on Germany, the United States Navy acquired Iowan from American-Hawaiian. USS Iowan was commissioned the same day.

Image:U. S. Field Artillery in Chateau-Thierry.jpg, Iowan transported horses for use by the American Expeditionary Force, like these seen here with a U.S. field artillery unit at Château-Thierry.]]

Iowan loaded a cargo of 800 horses,{{Cite web| last = Krenzelok | first = Greg | title = Newport News Animal Transport ship List overseas to France during WW1 | url = http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~gregkrenzelok/veterinary%20corp%20in%20ww1/newportnewsshiplist.html | access-date = 25 August 2008 }} along with flour, iron, and machinery at Newport News, Virginia and sailed for New York on 9 February 1918. There she joined a convoy that sailed for France on 11 February and arrived at its destination on 28 February; Iowan discharged her equine passengers—less seven that died or were destroyed during the voyage—at Remount Depot No. 3 on 5 March. Iowan continued carrying livestock and food products to France through the rest of the war. On 9 November, Iowan took on 72 officers and men, and headed for France with cargo ship {{USS|Charlton Hall|ID-1359|2}} two days before the Armistice.Crowell and Wilson, p. 563.

With the fighting at an end, the task of bringing home American soldiers began almost immediately.Gleaves, p. 31. Iowan was selected for conversion to a troop transport and transferred to the Cruiser and Transport Force, but before she could begin returning troops, Iowan had to undergo conversion from a cargo and animal ship. Though sources do not indicate the specific modifications Iowan underwent, typical conversions for other ships included the installation of berths for troops, and adding greatly expanded cooking and toilet facilities to handle the large numbers of men aboard.Crowell and Wilson, p. 316. Similar modifications on Iowan{{'}}s sister ship {{USS|Minnesotan|ID-4545|2}} took three months,{{cite DANFS | author = Naval Historical Center | author-link = Naval Historical Center | title = Minnesotan | url = http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/m11/minnesotan.htm | short = on }} but it is not known how long Iowan{{'}}s refit took. By the time Iowan had completed her sixth and final trooping voyage on 29 August 1919, Iowan had carried home 9,876 healthy and wounded men. USS Iowan was decommissioned on 22 September 1919, and returned to American-Hawaiian.

Iowan resumed cargo service with American-Hawaiian after her return from World War I service. Though the company had abandoned its original Hawaiian sugar routes by this time,Cochran and Ginger, p. 363 Iowan continued inter-coastal service through the Panama Canal. For a time in the early 1920s, Iowan was chartered to the United American Line. In May 1922, the Associated Press reported that Iowan, sailing under the United American banner, was loading wheat, flour, and lumber at Tacoma, Washington, for England and European ports.{{cite news | agency = Associated Press | title = News of ships and sailings in Pacific ports | work = Los Angeles Times | date = 21 May 1922 | page = I–11 }} Later that same month, on 29 May, Iowan rammed and sank the Furness-Prince Line cargo ship Welsh Prince in the Columbia River near Astoria, Oregon. Seven men aboard Welsh Prince were killed and three were injured in the crash and subsequent fire.

On 11 June 1941, Iowan departed Los Angeles with a cargo of {{convert|4500|LT|t}} of steel and iron pipe destined for San Francisco; Portland, Oregon; and Seattle, on her last voyage before she was to be handed over to the United States Maritime Commission.{{cite news | last = Austin | first = Tom | title = Shipping news and activities at Los Angeles Harbor | work = Los Angeles Times | date = 29 June 1941 | page = 19 }} At 04:20 on 12 June, Iowan ran aground on a reef a few hundred yards (meters) off shore from Government Point,{{cite news | title = Defense cargo ship crashes on reef in foggy weather | work = Los Angeles Times | date = 13 June 1941 | page = A1 }}—{{convert|117|nmi|km}} northwest of Los Angeles,{{cite news | title = More help on way to vessel on reef off Government Point | work = Los Angeles Times | date = 14 June 1941 | page = A1 }}—near Point Conception. Salvage operations took some two weeks, but the ship was towed back to Los Angeles and placed in drydock at the Bethlehem Shipyard on Terminal Island. Approximately {{convert|100|ft|m}} of the ship's hull had been damaged while the ship was buffeted by waves on the reef, which had opened numerous holes in her hull. The ship's drive shaft had broken, and her boilers and engines had shifted. The Los Angeles Times reported that estimates for Iowan{{'}}s repair ranged up to $500,000.{{cite news | title = Grounded ship's damage estimated | work = Los Angeles Times | date = 1 July 1941 | page = A14 }} In an inquiry held by the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation, Iowan{{'}}s captain, S. A. Gates, a Californian with 25 years of sailing experience along the coast, blamed unusual tides for the grounding.{{cite news | title = Captain blames rare tide for grounding of freighter | work = Los Angeles Times | date = 2 July 1941 | page = A3 }}

Image:Ташкент.jpg during World War II.]]

In 1942, after Iowan was repaired and after the United States had entered World War II, the ship was requisitioned by the War Shipping Administration (WSA). On 6 December 1942, Iowan was transferred to the Soviet Union under Lend-Lease, and renamed Tashkent (Ташкент {{IPA|ru|tɐʂˈkʲɛnt}}) after the capital of Uzbekistan. Near the end of World War II, the WSA offered a payment of $694,743 to American-Hawaiian for the former Iowan as part of a $7.2 million settlement for eleven American-Hawaiian ships that had been requisitioned by the WSA.{{cite news | last = Stone | first = Leon | title = U.S. awards $7,247,637 to Hawaiian ship firm | work = The Christian Science Monitor | date = 31 March 1945 | page = 4 }}

Tashkent was assigned to the Far East Shipping Company (FESCO), but sailed with the Pacific Fleet of the Soviet Navy throughout the war. Tashkent was photographed at San Francisco at some point during the war,{{Cite web| author = Naval Historical Center | title = Picture Data: Photo #NH 89976 | url = http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/h89000/h89976c.htm | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121026105911/http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/h89000/h89976c.htm | url-status = dead | archive-date = 26 October 2012 | work = Online Library of Selected Images | publisher = Navy Department, Naval Historical Center | date = 17 April 2005 | access-date = 25 August 2008 }} but most of her other movements are not known. However, in August 1945, Tashkent delivered troops and cargo in support of the Soviet invasions of Japanese-held Manchuria, Korea, Sakhalin, and the Kurile Islands. After the war's end, Tashkent returned to merchant operation with FESCO through 1966, when she was transferred to North Korea for use as a fish processing facility. The former Tashkent was scrapped in 1969.

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• {{Cite journal | last = Cochran | first = Thomas C. | author-link = Thomas C. Cochran (historian) |author2=Ray Ginger | title = The American-Hawaiian Steamship Company, 1899–1919 | journal = The Business History Review | volume = 28 | issue = 4 |date=December 1954 | pages = 343–365 | location = Boston | publisher = The President and Fellows of Harvard College | issn = 0007-6805 | oclc = 216113867 | doi = 10.2307/3111801 | jstor = 3111801 | s2cid = 154716297 | author2-link = Ray Ginger }}
• {{Cite book| last = Crowell | first = Benedict | author-link = Benedict Crowell |author2=Robert Forrest Wilson | title = The Road to France: The Transportation of Troops and Military Supplies, 1917–1918 | url = https://archive.org/details/roadtofrancetra02wilsgoog | series = How America Went to War: An Account From Official Sources of the Nation's War Activities, 1917–1920 | location = New Haven | publisher = Yale University Press | year = 1921 | oclc = 18696066 }}
• {{Gleaves}}
• {{Cite journal | last = Hovey | first = Edmund Otis | title = The Isthmus of Tehuantepec and the Tehuantepec National Railway | journal = Bulletin of the American Geographical Society | volume = 39 | issue = 2 | year = 1907 | pages = 78–91 | location = New York | publisher = American Geographical Society | issn = 0190-5929 | oclc = 2097765 | doi = 10.2307/198380 | jstor = 198380 }}
• {{Cite DANFS | author = Naval Historical Center | author-link = Naval Historical Center | title = Iowan | url = http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/i2/iowan.htm | access-date = 25 August 2008 }}
• {{Cite DANFS | author = Naval Historical Center | title = Minnesotan | url = http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/m11/minnesotan.htm | access-date = 25 August 2008 | link = off }}

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• {{navsource|12/173002|Iowan}}

{{June 1941 shipwrecks}}

{{Soviet Union–United States relations|state=collapsed}}

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Category:Ships built in Sparrows Point, Maryland

Category:World War II merchant ships of the United States

Category:Cargo ships of the Soviet Union

Category:World War II merchant ships of the Soviet Union

Category:Soviet Union–United States relations

Category:1914 ships

Category:World War I cargo ships of the United States

Category:Cargo ships of the United States Navy

Category:Maritime incidents in June 1941