USS Newport News (AK-3)

In 1904 the Dansk Vestindiske Kompagni (DVK) took delivery of a set of three single-screw cargo liners. They were for a service that it ran jointly with HAPAG between Copenhagen, Hamburg and the Caribbean, and they were named after the three main islands of the Danish West Indies. Burmeister & Wain in Copenhagen built {{lang|da|St. Thomas}}, and Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft in Flensburg built her sister ships {{lang|da|St. Jan}} and {{lang|da|St. Croix}}.{{sfn|Haws|1980|p=90}}

{{lang|da|St. Jan}}{{'}}s lengths were {{cvt|371|ft|5|in|abbr=on}} overall and {{cvt|355.0|ft|abbr=on}} registered. Her beam was {{cvt|45.0|ft|abbr=on}}, her depth was {{cvt|24.5|ft|abbr=on}}, and her draft was {{convert|23|ft|6|in|1|abbr=on}}. Her tonnages were {{GRT|3343}}, {{NRT|2136}} and 10,000 tons displacement. {{lang|da|St. Jan}} had a three-cylinder triple-expansion engine, which was rated at 480 NHP or 2,400 ihp and gave her a speed of {{convert|13|kn|km/h}}.{{sfn|Lloyd's Register 1904|loc=SAI}}{{cite web |url= https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/n/newport-news-i.html |title=Newport News I (AK-3) |date=9 September 2015 |publisher=Naval History and Heritage Command |access-date=21 March 2024}}{{cite web |url= https://www.navsource.org/archives/09/13/130003.htm |last=Radigan |first=Joseph M |title=USS Newport News (AK-3) |work=NavSource Online |access-date=21 March 2024}}

DVK registered {{lang|da|St. Jan}} at Copenhagen.{{sfn|Lloyd's Register 1904|loc=SAI}} Her code letters were NMPR. By 1905 her ownership was registered in the name of DVK's parent company, the Østasiatiske Kompagni (ØK).{{sfn|Lloyd's Register 1905|loc=SAI}}

{{lang|da|St. Thomas}}, {{lang|da|St. Jan}} and {{lang|da|St. Croix}} were found to be too big for their intended use, and in 1907 ØK withdrew from the joint service. HAPAG bought the three ships, renamed them {{lang|de|Niederwald}}, {{lang|de|Odenwald}}, and {{lang|de|Sachsenwald}} respectively,{{sfn|Haws|1980|p=90}} and registered them in Hamburg. {{lang|de|Odenwald}}{{'}}s code letters were RPMW. By 1908 she was equipped to burn oil instead of coal.{{sfn|Lloyd's Register 1908|loc=OCE–ODE}}

At 11:00 hrs on 1 August 1914, with the First World War imminent, HAPAG announced the suspension of its services.{{cite news |title=English lines stop ships to Continent |url-access=subscription |newspaper=The New York Times |date=2 August 1914 |page=3 |access-date=21 March 2024 |via=Times Machine |url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1914/08/02/105456186.html?pageNumber=3}} Germany ordered its merchant ships to take refuge in the nearest German or neutral port. {{lang|de|Odenwald}} and another HAPAG ship took refuge in San Juan, Puerto Rico. By late January 1915 she had been joined by another HAPAG ship, Präsident,{{Cite news |title=Crónica del Puerto |newspaper=Boletín mercantil de Puerto Rico |lang=es |place=San Juan |date=27 January 1915 |page=1 |access-date=21 March 2024 |via=Library of Congress |url= https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn91099739/1915-01-27/ed-1/seq-1/}} and the British collier Farn, which the cruiser {{SMS|Karlsruhe}} had captured as a prize and renamed KD-III.{{Cite news |title=German crews seized. |newspaper=The Evening Star |place=Washington, DC |date=8 April 1917 |page=5 |access-date=21 March 2024 |via=Library of Congress |url= https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1917-04-08/ed-1/seq-51/}} "KD-III" was short for {{lang|de|Kohlendampfer III}}, meaning "Coal-Steamer 3".{{cite web |url= https://si-siris.blogspot.com/2017/04/three-german-ships-puerto-rico-and.html |last=Curet |first=L Antonio |date=5 April 2017 |title=Three German Ships, Puerto Rico, and the Great War: the First Shots Fired by the U.S. in WWI |work=Smithsonian Collections Blog |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |access-date=21 March 2024}}

{{lang|de|Odenwald}}{{'}}s cargo was mostly coffee and hides from various South American ports. After about three months in San Juan, all of her cargo was unloaded onto a wharf in the San Antonio Canal. The cargo was then forwarded to New York on the New York and Porto Rico Line's mail steamers, such as the Brazos. However, by 23 January 1915, about a third of {{lang|de|Odenwald}}{{'}}s cargo was still on the wharf in San Juan.{{Cite news |title=Crónica del Puerto |newspaper=Boletín mercantil de Puerto Rico |lang=es |place=San Juan |date=23 January 1915 |page=12 |access-date=21 March 2024 |via=Library of Congress |url= https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn91099739/1915-01-23/ed-1/seq-12/}}

In March 1915 {{lang|de|Odenwald}} took on 1,800 tons of coal and a large amount of provisions. The United States Customs Service responded by having a customs officer aboard her continually, to report in her movements. Her Master requested permission to leave port, but the Collector of Customs refused, claiming that he needed permission from Washington DC.{{Cite news |title=El "Odenwald" se quiso ir |newspaper=Boletín mercantil de Puerto Rico |lang=es |place=San Juan |date=22 March 1915 |page=1 |access-date=21 March 2024 |via=Library of Congress |url= https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn91099739/1915-03-22/ed-1/seq-1/}} According to one report, the Collector withheld permission for three days.{{cite news |title=Odenwald incident under new inquiry |url-access=subscription |newspaper=The New York Times |date=8 April 1915 |page=4 |access-date=21 March 2024 |via=Times Machine |url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1915/04/08/104644958.html?pageNumber=4}} Earlier in the war the US had proclaimed its neutrality, stating "The President is authorized and empowered to direct the Collectors of Customs under the jurisdiction of the United States to withhold clearance from any vessel, American or foreign, which he has reasonable cause to believe to be about to carry arms, ammunition, men, or supplies to any warship or tender or supply ship of a belligerent nation in violation of the obligations of the United States as a neutral nation..."{{cite news |title=Government libels steamer Odenwald |url-access=subscription |newspaper=The New York Times |date=24 March 1915 |page=3 |access-date=21 March 2024 |via=Times Machine |url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1915/03/24/100146929.html?pageNumber=3}}

On 19 March the commandant of the US Army garrison in San Juan, Lieutenant-Colonel Burnham, in the Collector's presence, warned the German Consul and {{lang|de|Odenwald}}{{'}}s Master that he would use force if necessary to prevent the ship leaving port without permission.{{cite news |title=Odenwald skipper may be prosecuted |url-access=subscription |newspaper=The New York Times |date=23 March 1915 |page=5 |access-date=21 March 2024 |via=Times Machine |url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1915/03/23/104643120.html?pageNumber=5}} On 20 March {{lang|de|Odenwald}} prepared to leave port. {{lang|de|Odenwald}} had deployed Germans in fishing boats, pretending to be night-fishing, to mark the channel out of the harbour to enable the ship to leave port without a pilot. The Collector summoned support from garrison, which sent an infantry unit with fixed bayonets, and a platoon of mountain artillery with six machine guns, with orders to open fire on the ship if she tried to leave port. The troops were in position from 23:00 hrs on 20 March, and withdrawn at 02:00 hrs on 21 March.

At 14:50 hrs on 21 March {{lang|de|Odenwald}} again started preparing to leave port. Federal officers telephoned the garrison at the Castillo San Felipe del Morro. At 14:55 hrs, Lieutenant Teófilo Marxuach ordered the Morro's guns to open fire. Accounts differ as to how many guns were fired, the caliber of the guns, or how many shots they fired. Puerto Rican and US sources at the time insisted that they were warning shots. Germany at the time insisted that the Morro tried to hit {{lang|de|Odenwald}} without first firing warning shots.

File:Collectie Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen TM-20016587 San Juan. Morro Castle Puerto Rico Boy Lawson (Fotograaf).jpg, photographed in 1964]]

The {{lang|es|Boletín mercantil de Puerto Rico}} reported that six guns of the Morro fired warning salvoes: two across {{lang|de|Odenwald}}{{'}}s bow, and one across her stern. She was warned that the next shots would be aimed at her hull. {{lang|de|Odenwald}} hove to and dropped anchor. The same report claimed that a total of 58 shells were fired. However, the report is not specific about the caliber, and the total may include machine-gun rounds.

On 22 March The New York Times reported that the Morro fired "three shots".{{cite news |title=American fort fires on German steamer |url-access=subscription |newspaper=The New York Times |date=22 March 1915 |page=1 |access-date=21 March 2024 |via=Times Machine |url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1915/03/22/100146641.html?pageNumber=1}} The next day it quoted Lieut-Col Burnham as reporting "warning shots were fired with machine guns and one shot was fired across her bows with a five-inch rifle from El Morro". On 30 March The New York Times reported that one seven-inch gun fired one shell across {{lang|de|Odenwald}}{{'}}s bow.{{cite news |title=Shot close to Odenwald. |url-access=subscription |newspaper=The New York Times |date=30 March 1915 |page=3 |access-date=21 March 2024 |via=Times Machine |url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1915/03/30/104643604.html?pageNumber=3}} One modern source says that the Morro fired one round from a 4.7-inch gun at a range of 300 yards.

International rules, as set forth by the US Naval War College, required that "the vessel is brought to by firing a gun with a blank charge. If this is not sufficient to cause her to lie to a shot is fired across the bows, and in case of flight or resistance force can be used to compel the vessel to surrender." Germany alleged that the Morro fired solid shot, without first firing a blank warning shot, and that the Morro continued "a sharp fire" even after {{lang|de|Odenwald}} hove to.{{cite news |title=Calls Odenwald affair an attack |url-access=subscription |newspaper=The New York Times |date=7 April 1915 |page=3 |access-date=21 March 2024 |via=Times Machine |url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1915/04/07/106785857.html?pageNumber=3}} The United States Department of State replied to the German government that "the United States authorities at San Juan in the performance of their duties avoided any act endangering the safety of the vessel and the lives of the persons on board and exercised no greater force than was necessary to prevent the illegal departure of the Odenwald from the port of San Juan".{{cite news |title=Show Germany upheld arms sales |url-access=subscription |newspaper=The New York Times |date=29 October 1915 |page=4 |access-date=21 March 2024 |via=Times Machine |url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1915/10/29/105045182.html?pageNumber=4}}

File:ODENWALD guarded by MYRTLE - San Juan, P.R. LCCN2014698904.jpg

After {{lang|de|Odenwald}} hove to, the Collector and Deputy Collector of Customs, the chief customs officer, the head of the wireless station at Puerta de Tierra, the Attorney General, a pilot, and other officials, went out to her in three launches. The chief customs officer and the pilot boarded the ship; the chief customs officer ordered her back into port; and by 16:45 hrs she was returning to port, under the pilot's command. Two customs officers were put aboard {{lang|de|Odenwald}}, and a picket of soldiers was embarked on the buoy tender Ivy, which was deployed as a guard ship to watch over her. Soldiers could not be put aboard {{lang|de|Odenwald}}, as she was a merchant ship.

On 23 March the United States Department of the Navy sent two destroyers to San Juan to deter {{lang|de|Odenwald}} from trying to leave again.

On 1 February the Imperial German Navy resumed unrestricted submarine warfare. On 3 February Josephus Daniels, United States Secretary of the Navy, ordered the internment of all German and Austro-Hungarian ships in US-controlled ports, including {{lang|de|Odenwald}} in San Juan.{{Cite news |title=German and Austrian ships interned at American ports |newspaper=The Evening Star |place=Washington, DC |date=3 February 1917 |page=2 |access-date=21 March 2024 |via=Library of Congress |url= https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1917-02-03/ed-1/seq-2/}} On 6 April 1917 the US declared war on Germany, and at the same time seized 91 German ships in its ports,{{cite news |title=President proclaims war; warns alien enemies here; 91 German ships seized and spies put under arrest; Navy mobilised at once; Cuba and Brazil may join us |url-access=subscription |newspaper=The New York Times |date=7 April 1917 |page=1 |access-date=21 March 2024 |via=Times Machine |url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1917/04/07/102329694.html?pageNumber=1}} including KD-III, {{lang|de|Odenwald}}, and {{lang|de|Präsident}} in San Juan.

File:USS Newport News - 19-N-10398.jpg in Philadelphia Navy Yard in June 1918]]

On 14 May the US Navy took over {{lang|de|Odenwald}} under {{Executive Order|2619-A}}. She was defensively armed with four 3-inch/23-caliber guns, and on 14 July she was commissioned into the Navy as USS Newport News, with the hull classification symbol AK-3. She made transatlantic round trips to Europe. On 9 January 1918 she was assigned to the Naval Overseas Transport Service (NOTS), with whom she continued her transatlantic service. On 2 February 1918 she reached Hampton Roads from Europe. She then took coal to Boston, and on 24 March left New York carrying military supplies to the United Kingdom. She discharged her cargo in Liverpool, Dublin, and Queenstown (now Cobh), left Ireland on 18 May, and reached Philadelphia on 31 May.

By 1918 Newport News was equipped with wireless telegraphy. Her call sign was listed as DQS, which was a German call sign.{{sfn|The Marconi Press Agency Ltd|1918|p=680}}

Newport News made three more transatlantic round trips carrying mixed cargo for the NOTS. The last was in April 1919. It took her to Gibraltar, where after discharging her cargo she loaded food, clothing and other supplies that she took to Constantinople (now Istanbul) to relieve famine in the Near East. She returned via Gibraltar, reached Norfolk, Virginia on 27 June, and was detached from the NOTS.

Newport News’ crew was authorized the World War I Victory Medal, with Transport clasp.

By 1 July 1919 the United States Shipping Board was Newport News{{'}} registered owner. Her US official number was 215052, she was registered in New York, and her code letters were LHCP.{{sfn|Lloyd's Register 1919|loc=NEW–NGA}} She left Hampton Roads on 27 July 1919, passed through the Panama Canal to the Pacific, and reached Mare Island Naval Shipyard in California on 5 August. From there she was employed on supply runs, primarily to the Far East. On 1 August 1924 she was decommissioned at Puget Sound Navy Yard, Washington, and struck from the Naval Vessel Register.

On 4 April 1925 Newport News was sold for scrap to John F Blaine of Berkeley, California. However, on 10 November the Alaska Packers' Association bought her, renamed her Arctic, and registered her in San Francisco.{{sfn|Lloyd's Register 1926|loc=ARC}} By 1934 her wireless call sign was WQCM, and this had superseded her code letters.{{sfn|Lloyd's Register 1934|loc=ARC–ARD}} She was scrapped in Japan in January 1937.

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |last=Haws |first=Duncan |year=1980 |title=The Ships of the Hamburg America, Adler and Carr Lines |series=Merchant Fleets in Profile |volume=4 |place=Cambridge |publisher=Patrick Stephens Ltd |isbn=0-85059-397-2}}
• {{cite book |year=1904 |title=Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping |volume=I.–Steamers |place=London |publisher=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |via=Internet Archive |url= https://archive.org/details/HECROS1905ST/page/n767/mode/1up |ref={{harvid|Lloyd's Register 1904}} }}
• {{cite book |year=1905 |title=Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping |volume=I.–Steamers |place=London |publisher=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |via=Internet Archive |url= https://archive.org/details/HECROS1906ST/page/n770/mode/1up |ref={{harvid|Lloyd's Register 1905}} }}
• {{cite book |year=1908 |title=Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping |volume=I.–Steamers |place=London |publisher=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |via=Internet Archive |url= https://archive.org/details/HECROS1909ST/page/n739/mode/1up |ref={{harvid|Lloyd's Register 1908}} }}
• {{cite book |year=1919 |title=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |volume=II.–Steamers |place=London |publisher=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |via=Internet Archive |url= https://archive.org/details/HECROS1920ST/page/n748/mode/1up |ref={{harvid|Lloyd's Register 1919}} }}
• {{cite book |year=1926 |title=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |volume=II.–Steamers and Motorships |place=London |publisher=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |via=Internet Archive |url= https://archive.org/details/HECROS1927ST/page/n82/mode/1up |ref={{harvid|Lloyd's Register 1926}} }}
• {{cite book |year=1934 |title=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |volume=II.–Steamers and Motorships of 300 tons gross and over |place=London |publisher=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |via=Southampton City Council |url= https://plimsoll.southampton.gov.uk/shipdata/pdfs/34/34b0063.pdf |ref={{harvid|Lloyd's Register 1934}} }}
• {{cite book |author=The Marconi Press Agency Ltd |author-link=Marconi Company |year=1918 |title=The Year Book of Wireless Telegraphy and Telephony |place=London |publisher=The Wireless Press, Ltd}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Newport News (AK-3)}}

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