USS Westpool
{{short description|Cargo ship of the United States Navy}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=File:SS Westpool starboard bow view.jpg |Ship caption=SS Westpool just after launching at the J. F. Duthie and Company shipyard in Seattle, Washington, in 1918. }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United States |Ship flag={{USN flag|1918}} |Ship name=USS Westpool |Ship namesake= |Ship ordered= |Ship builder=J. F. Duthie and Company, Seattle, Washington |Ship laid down= |Ship launched=21 September 1918 |Ship sponsor= |Ship christened= |Ship completed=1918 |Ship acquired=2 November 1918 |Ship commissioned=2 November 1918 |Ship decommissioned=31 March 1919 |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship struck=31 March 1919 |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honors= |Ship fate=Returned to U.S. Shipping Board 31 March 1919 |Ship notes=*Sold to United Kingdom early in World War II
}} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship type= Cargo ship |Ship tonnage=5,650 Gross register tons{{Cite web |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-civil/civsh-w/westpool.htm |title=Online Library of Selected Images: Civilian Ships: S.S. Westpool (American Freighter, 1918). Served as USS Westpool (ID # 3675) in 1918-1919 |access-date=12 November 2012 |archive-date=21 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121221204039/http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-civil/civsh-w/westpool.htm |url-status=dead }} |Ship displacement=12,170 tons |Ship length={{convert|410|ft|5.25|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship beam={{convert|54|ft|0|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship draft={{convert|24|ft|1|in|m|abbr=on}} (mean) |Ship depth={{convert|29|ft|9|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship hold depth= |Ship propulsion= One 3,000-ihp (2.237-mW) steam engine, one shaft |Ship speed={{convert|11.5|kn|lk=in}} |Ship complement=103 |Ship armament=none |Ship armor= |Ship notes= }} |
USS Westpool (ID-3675) – sometimes written as West Pool – was a cargo ship of the United States Navy that served during World War I and its immediate aftermath. As SS Westpool, she was sunk in less than a minute during World War II following an attack by U-73 after being sold to the United Kingdom for use as a merchant ship. 8 out of her 35 crew survived the sinking.
Construction and acquisition
Westpool was laid down as the steel-hulled, single-screw Design 1013 commercial cargo ship SS Westpool by J. F. Duthie and Company in Seattle, Washington, for the United States Shipping Board. Completed in 1918, she was inspected by the U.S. Navy for possible World War I service and given the naval registry identification number 3675. The Shipping Board transferred her to the Navy on 2 November 1918, and the Navy commissioned her at Seattle the same day as USS Westpool (ID-3675).[http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/173675.htm NavSource Online: Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive Westpool (ID 3675)]
Navy career
Departing Seattle on 8 November 1918 – three days before the armistice with Germany that brought World War I to an end – Westpool steamed to the Panama Canal Zone, where she loaded a cargo for the Panama Railroad Company. She departed the Canal Zone on 9 December 1918 and proceeded to New York City, where she arrived on 20 December 1918 and discharged her cargo. She then loaded 5,002 tons of United States Army cargo and departed New York on 1 February 1919, bound for Antwerp, Belgium.
Arriving at Antwerp on 18 February 1919, Westpool unloaded part of her cargo before moving to Swansea, Wales, late in February 1919. She discharged the rest of her cargo there between 1 and 5 March 1919, then got underway on 5 March 1919 for New York City, where she made port on 23 March 1919.
Decommissioning and disposal
Westpool was decommissioned at New York on 31 March 1919. She was simultaneously struck from the Navy list and transferred back to the U.S. Shipping Board that day.
Later career
Once again SS Westpool, the ship remained under Shipping Board control and was in and out of service at various times until the late 1930s.
Early in World War II, the British government purchased Westpool to help to alleviate the shipping shortage the United Kingdom faced due to losses to German submarines. After a brief career in British service, Westpool was on a voyage from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, to Liverpool, England, carrying 7,144 tons of scrap iron as a part of Convoy SC 26 when she was sunk on 3 April 1941 by the German submarine {{GS|U-73|1940|2}} with the loss of 35 members of her crew.
Notes
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References
- {{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/w/westpool.html}}
- [http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-civil/civsh-w/westpool.htm Online Library of Selected Images: Civilian Ships: S.S. Westpool (American Freighter, 1918). Served as USS Westpool (ID # 3675) in 1918-1919] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121221204039/http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-civil/civsh-w/westpool.htm |date=21 December 2012 }}
- [http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/173675.htm NavSource Online: Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive Westpool (ID 3675)]
{{Design 1013 ships}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Westpool (ID-3675)}}
Category:Design 1013 ships of the United States Navy
Category:World War I cargo ships of the United States
Category:Ships built by J. F. Duthie & Company
Category:World War II merchant ships of the United Kingdom
Category:Design 1013 ships of the Ministry of War Transport