SS Manoa
{{about|the Maston steamship|the Canada Steamships Lines ship|USS Shoshone (ID-1760)}}
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{{Infobox ship image | Ship image=S.S. Manoa 1928.jpg | Ship caption= Manoa in 1928 }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header= | Ship country= United States | Ship flag= | Ship name=Manoa | Ship namesake= | Ship owner=Matson Navigation Company | Ship operator= | Ship registry= San Francisco, later Vladivostok | Ship route= | Ship ordered= | Ship awarded= | Ship builder= Newport News Shipbuilding | Ship original cost= | Ship yard number= | Ship way number= | Ship laid down= | Ship launched= November 1, 1913 | Ship sponsor= | Ship christened= | Ship completed= December 13, 1913 | Ship acquired= | Ship maiden voyage=March 1, 1914{{cite web |title=The Friend |url= http://server2.honweb.com/mhm-friend/cgi-bin/mhm-friend?a=d&d=Friend19140301-01.2.26&cl=CL1.Friend&srpos=0&dliv=none&st=1&e=-------en-20--1--txt-IN----- |publisher=Mission Houses Museum |access-date=23 April 2014 |volume=LXXII |number=3 |date=1 March 1914 |edition=1}} | Ship in service= | Ship out of service= 1969 | Ship renamed= Balkhash (1942) | Ship refit= | Ship identification= US official number 211832 | Ship nickname= | Ship fate= Scrapped in Vladivostok, USSR (1975); possibly repair base afterward | Ship notes= | Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics | Hide header= | Header caption= | Ship class= | Ship type= | Ship tonnage= {{GRT|6805}} (1913) | Ship length= *{{cvt|446.2|ft|abbr=on}} overall
| Ship beam= {{cvt|54.0|ft|abbr=on}} | Ship height= | Ship draft= | Ship depth= {{cvt|33.3|ft|abbr=on}} | Ship hold depth= | Ship decks= Bridge (officer's quarters), Promenade (10 deluxe passenger cabins), Main (20 passenger cabins) | Ship power= | Ship propulsion= Steam quadruple expansion, reciprocating steam engine, single screw[http://www.nnapprentice.com/alumni/letter/Mariners_Museum_Memories.pdf Mariners’ Museum Memories] Retrieved 23 April 2014. | Ship speed= | Ship range= | Ship capacity=90 passengers | Ship crew= | Ship notes= }} |
SS Manoa was an American freight and passenger steamship that sailed for the Matson Line from San Francisco to Hawaii.[http://cdm16003.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p9539coll1/id/14592/rec/1 Deck plans for S. S. Manoa] Retrieved 23 April 2014. Unusual for her time, her engines and funnel were aft, minimizing vibration felt by the passengers and soot on deck.{{cite web |title=Stateroom plan S. S. Manoa |url= http://cdm16003.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p9539coll1/id/14580/rec/2 |publisher=Huntington Digital Library |access-date=23 April 2014}} The aft design was considered ugly by passenger ship purists.{{cite book |last=Bollinger |first=Martin J |year=2003 |title=Stalin's Slave Ships: Kolyma, the Gulag Fleet, and the Role of the West |place=Westport, CN |publisher=Praeger |isbn=978-0275981006 |edition=First}}
After the Attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, she was put into military service and transferred to the Soviet Union under terms of Lend-Lease. They renamed her Balkhash. She was used to transfer Estonian prisoners to the Gulag during World War II and later transferred to the Far East Company. She remained in service through at least 1967, and her hull was used for a while afterward as a service vessel for repairing navigation systems. She was reportedly scrapped in 1975, though she may have been used for many years more.
Pacific service
The ship was built by Newport News Shipbuilding{{cite web |title=SS Manoa |url= http://www.ellisisland.org/shipping/Formatship.asp?shipid=2061 |publisher=Ellis Island Foundation |access-date=23 April 2014}} and launched on November 1, 1913. She arrived in Honolulu on March 24, 1914 on her maiden voyage. Her bridge deck held the officer's quarters, the promenade deck 10 deluxe passenger cabins, and the main deck 20 passenger cabins. One-way fares in 1920 were $350–$500 for a cabin on the promenade deck with a private bathroom, $90 to $100.00 for a cabin on the promenade deck without a private bathroom, and $90 for a cabin on the main deck.{{cite web|title=Honolulu, the Tourists' Paradise: Weekly Passenger Service, Matson Line |url= http://cdm16003.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p9539coll1/id/14792/rec/10 |publisher=Matson Navigation Company |access-date=25 April 2014 |year=1920}}{{cite web |title=Hawaii fares and sailings from San Francisco and Los Angeles |url= http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p9539coll1/id/16989/rec/22 |publisher=Matson Navigation Company |access-date=23 April 2014 |year=1932}}
She carried about 90 passengers and seven officers{{cite web |title=Passenger list |url= http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p9539coll1/id/14566/rec/11 |publisher=Matson Navigation Co. |access-date=25 April 2014 |year=1920}} on week-long trips from Pier 32 in San Francisco {{cite book|title=Annual List of Merchant Vessels of the United States|date=1920|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mF4uAAAAYAAJ&dq=ss+manoa+1913&pg=RA1-PA51}} to Honolulu, Hawaii, and thence to Kahului, Maui, before returning to Honolulu. The Manoa served this route from 1913 to 1942. Passengers could transfer to other Matson ships for passage to the South Pacific Islands. In 1926, the ship served as a waymarker for the Dole Air Derby air race from the Oakland, California to Wheeler Field in Honolulu, Hawaii.[http://hawaii.gov/hawaiiaviation/hawaii-aviation-pioneers/arthur-c-goebel-1 Arthur C. Goebel] Retrieved 23 April 2014.
Transfer to Soviet Union
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, she, along with the other Matson passenger ships {{SS|Lurline|1932||2}}, Matsonia, {{SS|Mariposa|1931|2}} and {{SS|Monterey||2}}, and 33 Matson freighters, were pressed into military service by the United States Maritime Commission.{{cite web |title= History|url=http://www.matson.com/corporate/about_us/history.html |publisher=Matson |access-date=25 April 2014}} The U.S. transferred the Manoa to the Soviet Union in 1943 as part of the Lend-Lease Program.{{cite web |title=Matson Navigation Company and Oceanic Navigation Company Ships |url= http://www.usmm.net/matson.html |access-date=23 April 2014 |url-status=usurped |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060116115859/http://www.usmm.net/matson.html |archive-date=16 January 2006}} They renamed her Balkhash (Soviet registration M-11744), replacing a ship of the same name that had been sunk by the German air force during the Soviet evacuation of Tallinn. She was used at least twice by the Soviets during World War II to transport Estonian prisoners to the Gulag.
The ship was modernized in 1956 in Chinese shipyards and restored to her original configuration carrying both cargo and passengers. She was transferred on June 22, 1964 to the Far Eastern Shipping Company, and two years later on December 13, 1966, she was decommissioned. She was used for the next few years as a floating base to repair navigation equipment for the Vladivostok merchant fleet. The ship's name was removed from the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping in 1967, and was reported to have been scrapped in Vladivostok in 1975, although other reports state her hull may have been used through 1985{{cite web |last=Toppan |first=Andrew |title=Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Production Record |url= http://www.hazegray.org/shipbuilding/nnsb1.htm |access-date=25 April 2014}} and perhaps later.
References
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External links
- {{in lang|ru}} [http://fleetphoto.ru/vessel/71224/ Pictures of the SS Balkhash]
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Category:Passenger ships of the United States
Category:Steamships of the United States