USAT Meigs

The ship's keel was laid 30 July 1920{{cite journal |year=1921 |title=Los Angeles Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company |journal=Pacific Marine Review |volume=18 |issue=January |pages=54 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xj0fAQAAMAAJ&q=%22West+Lewark%22&pg=PA54 |access-date=28 December 2011|last1= Dickie|first1= Alexander J|last2= Stanley|first2= Frank A}} by the Los Angeles Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company (later Todd Pacific Shipyards) at San Pedro, California{{cite web |url=http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/2large/inactive/toddsanpedro.htm |title=Todd Pacific Shipyards, San Pedro CA |author=T. Colton |work=Shipbuildinghistory.com |access-date=28 December 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120210150631/http://www.shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/2large/inactive/toddsanpedro.htm |archive-date=10 February 2012 |df=dmy-all }} and completed in 1921 for the United States Shipping Board as West Lewark. She had a steel hull, measured {{GRT|7358}} (also cited as 11,358 DWT), {{convert|430.7|ft|1|abbr=on}}, {{convert|54.3|ft|1|abbr=on}} beam and {{convert|26.2|ft|1|abbr=on}} depth.{{cite book |last= Grover |first= David |title=US Army Ships and Watercraft of World War II |publisher= Naval Institute Press |year= 1987 |isbn=0-87021-766-6 |pages=6, 26 & 29}}) The ship's construction was canceled in 1919 but she was then completed to a larger and different design (Design EFC 1133) than the originally planned Design 1013{{cite web |url=http://www.shipscribe.com/usnaux/AK/AK34.html |title=MEIGS (AK-34) |author=Stephen S. Roberts |work=Shipscribe |access-date=28 December 2011}} and launched 24 February 1921.{{cite journal |first1= Alexander J|last2= Stanley|first2= Frank A|year=1921 |title=Los Angeles Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company |journal=Pacific Marine Review |volume=18 |issue=April |pages=244 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xj0fAQAAMAAJ&q=Lewark&pg=PA244 |access-date=28 December 2011|last1= Dickie}} She was evaluated for naval use with designation ID-4490.{{cite web|url=http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/174490.htm|title=USAT Meigs ex-West Lewark (ID 4490)|author=NavSource|work=NavSource Online: Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive|access-date=28 December 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120515114413/http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/174490.htm|archive-date=15 May 2012|df=dmy-all}}{{cite web |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-civil/civsh-w/w-lewark.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040907172725/http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-civil/civsh-w/w-lewark.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=7 September 2004 |title=S.S. West Lewark (American Freighter, 1921) |author=Naval History and Heritage Command |work=Online Library of Selected Images |publisher=Department of the Navy |access-date=28 December 2011}}

After delivery the ship was operated by the Williams, Diamond & Company, Pacific Coast shippers for the Pacific Coast-European trade.{{cite journal |title=Satisfactory Results Favor Trials of West Lewark on Pacific Coast |journal=Marine Engineering and Shipping Age |volume=XXVI |date=August 1921|page=642 |publisher=Aldrich Publishing Company |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-1gfAQAAMAAJ&q=%22West+Lewark%22&pg=PA642 |access-date=28 December 2011}} Cargo handling equipment had been designed in light of the fact that many ports lacked sufficient handling equipment ashore to enable efficient cargo operations and initial service demonstrated increased efficiency.{{cite journal |last=Marine Journal |year=1921 |title=Third Sister Makes Her Debut |journal=Marine Journal |volume=44 |issue=October 8, 1921 |page=31 |location=New York |publisher=Edgar Pennington Young |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VOg_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PR30 |access-date=23 February 2015}} West Lewark and sister ship, West Faralon were placed in the company's Pacific Coast-European trade with West Lewark making an initial port call at Glasgow, Scotland. In 1922 the Army acquired the ship and renamed her Meigs.

USAT Meigs was one of the small fleet the Army maintained during the inter-war years and operated in the Pacific as a freight and animal transport.{{cite book |title=The Army's Cargo Fleet in World War II |last=Larson |first=Harold |year=1945 |publisher=Cffice of the Chief of Transportation, Army Service Forces |pages=1, 9 & 26 |url=http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA438107 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130801175659/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA438107 |url-status=dead |archive-date=1 August 2013 |access-date=28 December 2011}} In 1939, with USAT Ludington, Meigs was one of only two Army owned freight transports. Included in the requirement to transport army goods and personal possessions of personnel changing duty stations to the Pacific was transport of cavalry and personal horses of officers with occasional mention of the ship transporting notable horses or owners transferring between Pacific and continental postings.{{cite book |title=Renegade Champion: The Unlikely Rise of Fitzrada |last=Rust |first=Richard R. |year=2008 |publisher=Taylor Trade Publishing |location=Lanham Maryland |isbn=978-158979379-8|page=80 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sl5_mMgsv1gC&q=%22transport+Meigs%22+Philippines+OR+Hawaii&pg=PA80 |access-date=29 December 2011}}{{cite book |title=Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam |last=Sorley |first=Lewis |year=2011 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company |location=New York City |isbn=978-0-547-51826-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/westmorelandgene0000sorl/page/12 12] |url=https://archive.org/details/westmorelandgene0000sorl |url-access=registration |quote=transport Meigs Philippines OR Hawaii horse. |access-date=29 December 2011}} In July 1938 Meigs found an oil slick along the course of the lost Pan American flying boat Hawaii Clipper about 500 miles from Manila, took samples and stood by for further investigation.{{cite news |url= http://lostclipper.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/clipper-20.pdf |title=Telltale Surface on Ocean Found by Transport Meigs |author=AP News |date=30 July 1938 |newspaper=The Sun |publisher=wordpress.com |access-date=28 December 2011}}

Shortly before the US entry into World War II, the ship was given the tentative Navy hull number AK-34 under an agreement that Navy would take over then commission and crew any Army transports operating in areas of potential naval opposition. The reality of war resulted in a December 1941 Presidential order suspending that agreement and the hull number is listed by Navy as "not used."

USAT Meigs was part of the Pensacola Convoy attempting to reinforce the Philippines in the early stages of the Pacific War and held at Fiji when it was evident the Japanese were already invading the Philippines. Despite a military decision to bring the convoy back to Hawaii or the West Coast, a presidential decision routed the ships to Australia to attempt Philippine support from there.{{cite book |title=United States Army in World War II-The War in the Pacific-The Fall of the Philippines |last=Morton |first=Lewis |year=1993 |publisher=Center of Military History, United States Army |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=145–146 |url=http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/005/5-2-1/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120921045634/http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/005/5-2-1/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=21 September 2012 |access-date=29 December 2011}} After being part of an abortive convoy escorted by {{USS|Houston|CA-30|6}} and smaller escorts, that had departed on 15 February 1942 in an attempt to reinforce the island of Timor, she returned to the Australian town of Darwin, Northern Territory.{{cite web |url=http://www.naval-history.net/xDKWW2-4202-42FEB02.htm |title=Naval Events, February 1942, Part 2 of 2 Sunday 15th – Saturday 28th |access-date=29 December 2011}}

On 19 February 1942 Japanese aircraft attacked Darwin's land and shipping targets in two waves.{{cite web|url=http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/war-at-home-shipwrecks|title=The war at home: Second World War shipwrecks in Australian waters|publisher=Australian Government|access-date=28 December 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227140919/http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/war-at-home-shipwrecks|archive-date=27 February 2012|df=dmy-all}} The Meigs was one of six ships sunk, with one of its crew of 66 killed, after being struck by a number of bombs and aerial torpedoes.{{cite web |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.cs-pa-http%253A%252F%252Fcas.awm.gov.au%252Fphotograph%252FP05303.019 |title=The United States Army Transport (USAT) Meigs underway in Darwin Harbour |work=Picture Australia |publisher=National Library of Australia |access-date=28 December 2011}}

Although the superstructure of the wreck was salvaged after the war by Fujita Salvage of Osaka, Japan, the cargo of munitions, railway rails, Bren gun carriers and trucks intended for Allied forces in Portuguese Timor remains. The Meigs is now a dive site, where the remnants of the cargo are as visible as the remains of the vessel itself. It lies in {{convert|18|m|0}}{{cite web |title= World War II Wrecks |publisher= Darwin Diver Center |url= http://www.darwindivecentre.com.au/WWII%20Wrecks.html |access-date= 4 March 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080921130209/http://www.darwindivecentre.com.au/WWII%20Wrecks.html |archive-date= 21 September 2008 |df= dmy-all }} of water at coordinates {{coord|12|29.26|S|130|49.10|E|display=inline,title|type:landmark_region:AU-NT}},{{cite web |title= World War II Shipwrecks |publisher= Northern Territory Government, Australia |url= http://www.nt.gov.au/nreta/heritage/ntregister/declared/display.html?wwships |access-date= 4 March 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20091006123543/http://nt.gov.au/nreta/heritage/ntregister/declared/display.html?wwships |archive-date= 6 October 2009 |df= dmy-all }} and due to the large tidal movements creating strong currents and poor visibility, is only divable around neap tides.

The name USS Meigs is incorrectly applied to the USAT Meigs and also, properly, to the {{USS|General M. C. Meigs|AP-116}}, which served in the Korean War.

There was also a small Quartermaster Corps passenger and freight steamer built in 1892 by John H. Dialogue & Son, Camden New Jersey, and serving in the early 20th century named General Meigs.{{cite book |year=1918 |title=Fiftieth Annual List of Merchant Vessels of the United States, Year ended June 30, 1918 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Department of Commerce, Bureau of Navigation |page=497 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433023733961;view=1up;seq=511;size=250 |access-date=17 December 2018}}{{cite web |last=Colton |first=Tim |title=John H. Dialogue & Son, Camden NJ |publisher=ShipbuildingHistory |date=May 18, 2016 |url=http://shipbuildinghistory.com/shipyards/19thcentury/dialogue.htm |access-date=17 December 2018}}

• List of ships sunk by the Imperial Japanese Navy

{{reflist|refs=

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• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120321050122/http://www.battleforaustralia.org.au/2901/Overview/Bombing_Darwin/ The Bombing of Darwin]
• [https://archive.today/20121127063747/http://cas.awm.gov.au/photograph/P05303.019 Australian War Memorial, photograph P05303.019]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110928020855/http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/war-at-home-shipwrecks The war at home: Second World War shipwrecks in Australian waters]

{{Design 1133 ships}}

{{Los Angeles SB&DDC and Todd, Los Angeles ships}}

{{February 1942 shipwrecks}}

{{Recreational dive sites|wresit}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meigs, USAT}}

Category:1921 ships

Category:Design 1133 ships of the United States Army

Category:Ships built in Los Angeles

Category:Ships sunk in the bombing of Darwin, 1942

Category:Maritime incidents in February 1942

Category:Transport ships of the United States Army

Category:World War II auxiliary ships of the United States

Category:Wreck diving sites