USS Alloway (ID-3139)
{{short description|Cargo ship of the United States Navy}}
{{other ships|USS Alloway}}
{{Use American English|date=May 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2017}}
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{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=S.S. Alloway (cropped).jpg |Ship caption=USS Alloway undergoing builder's trials on 5 July 1918, probably in San Francisco Bay. She is flying the flag of her builder, the Moore Shipbuilding Company of Oakland, California, from a short flagmast on her forecastle. The United States Shipping Board flag is flying from her forward mast, and a flag bearing her name is at the top of her after mast. Note the ship's dazzle camouflage scheme. }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United States |Ship flag={{USN flag|1945}} |Ship name= |Ship namesake= |Ship owner= |Ship operator= |Ship registry= |Ship route= |Ship ordered=as Shintaka |Ship awarded= |Ship builder=Moore & Scott, Oakland, California |Ship original cost= |Ship yard number= |Ship way number= |Ship laid down=1918 |Ship launched=14 March 1918 |Ship sponsor= |Ship christened= |Ship completed= |Ship acquired=11 July 1918 |Ship commissioned=12 July 1918 |Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned=3 March 1919 |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship struck=3 March 1919 |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport= |Ship identification= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honors= |Ship captured= |Ship fate=*Transferred to U.S. Shipping Board 3 March 1919
|Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class= |Ship type= |Ship tonnage={{GRT|6,113}}[https://alaskashipwreck.com/shipwrecks-a-z/alaska-shipwrecks-a/ alaskashipwreck.com Alaska Shipwrecks (A)] {{NRT|4,383}} |Ship displacement={{convert|12600|LT|t}} |Ship length={{convert|416|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship beam={{convert|53|ft|0|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship height= |Ship draft={{convert|27|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}} (aft) |Ship depth= |Ship hold depth= |Ship decks= |Ship deck clearance= |Ship ramps= |Ship ice class= |Ship power= |Ship propulsion= |Ship sail plan= |Ship speed={{convert|12+1/2|kn}} |Ship range= |Ship endurance= |Ship test depth= |Ship boats= |Ship capacity= |Ship troops= |Ship complement=70 |Ship crew= |Ship time to activate= |Ship sensors= |Ship EW= |Ship armament=*1 × {{cvt|4|in|mm|0}} gun mount,
|Ship armor= |Ship aircraft= |Ship aircraft facilities= |Ship notes= }} |
USS Alloway (Id. No. 3139) was a United States Navy Design 1015 ship cargo ship in commission from 1918 to 1919 that served during World War I and its immediate aftermath. After decommissioning, she served as the commercial cargo ship SS Alloway until she was wrecked in 1929.
Construction and commissioning
SS Shintaka, a screw steamer built in 1918 at Oakland, California, for the United States Shipping Board by Moore & Scott, was acquired by the U.S. Navy on 11 July 1918 for World War I service. Renamed USS Alloway (ID No. 3139), she was commissioned at San Francisco, California, on 12 July 1918.
Service history
=U.S. Navy=
Assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS), Alloway departed from San Francisco soon after commissioning and set a course for the west coast of South America. She arrived at Arica, Chile, on 17 August 1918 and began loading a cargo of nitrates. She left Arica near the end of August 1918 and arrived at Norfolk, Virginia, on 20 September 1918. She discharged the nitrates at Norfolk and moved on to New York City for repairs.
On 10 November 1918, the day before the armistice with Germany that ended World War I, Alloway departed New York City to begin her only voyage to Europe in U.S. Navy service. A little over a month later, on 11 December 1918, she entered port at Quiberon, France. After unloading over 5,000 tons{{vague|which tons?|date=February 2010}} of United States Army cargo, she continued on to Brest, France. She loaded new cargo there for the return voyage, then crossed the Atlantic and entered New York Harbor on 13 February 1919. After discharging her cargo, she entered Schewan's drydock for overhaul.
On 3 March 1919, Alloway was decommissioned and returned to the U.S. Shipping Board for disposition. Presumably, her name was struck from the Navy list that same day.
=Commercial service=
As SS Alloway, the ship entered commercial service, and the U.S. Shipping Board operated her commercially until 1928,[https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?223240 wrecksite.eu SS Alloway (+1929)] when she was sold to the C. P. Box Corporation of Seattle, Washington.
Alloway began her final voyage on 29 January 1929, when she departed Seattle under the command of Captain H. S. Throckmorton carrying a crew of 35 and a cargo of 4,500 tons of lumber bound for Yokohama, Japan, where she was to be scrapped. Her steam engine broke down during the voyage on 10 February 1929, and on 11 February 1929 the American Mail Line steamer Montauk – which was on a voyage to Shanghai, China – took her under tow. The towline broke in Unimak Pass in the Aleutian Islands during a gale on 12 February, and Alloway collided with Montauk – which sustained US$10,000 in damage to her superstructure – immediately after the towline broke, then drifted quickly toward nearby Ugamak Island. Her crew attempted to anchor her, but she dragged the anchor, and all but one member of her crew abandoned ship when it became impossible to stop her from running aground on the coast of Ugamak Island.
One crewman, 20-year-old oiler James L. Posey, remained aboard Alloway after the rest of the crew abandoned ship and even after she ran aground, despite the danger to his life.[https://archive.org/details/dailycolonist229uvic_14/page/n5 Anonymous, "Man Left on SS Alloway May Be Wise," The Daily Colonist (Victoria, British Columbia), February 14, 1929, p. 5 Retrieved June 7, 2019] Montauk radioed that Posey had become mentally deranged because of the stress of five days at sea in the gale and could not be forced to abandon ship, but merchant mariners in Seattle offered the opinion that Posey had remained aboard in order claim a possibly significant share of the salvage value of the US$200,000 ship and her US$80,000 cargo if any salvage attempt took place, and this motive eventually was confirmed. Posey finally abandoned ship on 14 February 1929 and was rescued by a United States Coast Guard cutter shortly before Alloway broke up in the surf. She and her cargo were a total loss.
References
- {{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/a7/alloway-i.htm}}
- [http://www.amnwr.com/ShipwreckList.htm amnwr.com Shipwrecks on Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge]
- [http://shipbuildinghistory.com/merchantships/1pacific.htm shipbuildinghistory.com General Cargo Ships Built in Pacific Coast Shipyards]
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{{Design 1015 ships}}
{{1929 shipwrecks}}
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Category:Ships built in Oakland, California
Category:Design 1015 ships of the United States Navy
Category:World War I cargo ships of the United States