USS Challenger
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{{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United States |Ship flag={{USN flag|1919}} |Ship name=USS Challenger |Ship ordered= |Ship builder=Union Iron Works |Ship original cost= |Ship laid down= |Ship launched=4 July 1918 |Ship christened= |Ship acquired by the Navy=4 October 1918 |Ship commissioned=4 October 1918 |Ship decommissioned=2 May 1919 |Ship in service= |Ship reclassified= |Ship out of service= |Ship struck= |Ship honors= |Ship homeport= |Ship fate=*Transferred to U.S. Shipping Board 2 May 1919
|Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class= |Ship displacement=16,000 t. |Ship length={{cvt|410|ft}} |Ship beam={{cvt|56|ft}} |Ship draft={{cvt|30|ft}} |Ship propulsion=One {{cvt|2600|ihp}} steam engine, one shaft |Ship speed={{convert|11|kn}} |Ship range= |Ship complement=70 |Ship sensors= |Ship EW= |Ship armament= }} |
USS Challenger was a U.S. freighter. It was commissioned by the U.S. Navy between 1918 and 1919 for service during World War I.{{cite web|title=Challenger (ID 3630)|url=http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/173630.htm|publisher=NavSource Online: Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive|access-date=18 May 2011}}
It was built in 1918 by Union Iron Works, San Francisco, Calif., under a United States Shipping Board contract. The US Navy accepted delivery on 4 October 1918 and it was commissioned the same day. He then reported to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service.
Challenger cleared San Francisco 9 October 1918 for Mejillones and Antofagasta, Chile, where it loaded nitrates. Sailing on to deliver its cargo at Pensacola, Fla., 11 December, Challenger was next ordered to New Orleans to load cotton and steel for the French government. He was transferred to J. H. W. Steele Co. for operation. After a voyage in January and February 1919 carrying cargo to France to supply the Army of Occupation, Challenger returned to Baltimore, Md. It was decommissioned there 2 May 1919, and returned to the United States Shipping Board the same day.
On 17 May 1942 while serving with American-South African Line during World War II, it was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-155.
References
- {{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/c5/challenger.htm}}
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{{May 1942 shipwrecks}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Challenger (ID-3630)}}
Category:Cargo ships of the United States Navy
Category:Auxiliary ships of the United States Navy
Category:Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II
Category:World War II merchant ships of the United States