USS Powhatan (ID-3013)

	USS Powhatan (ID-3013) docked at New York City.
History
German Empire
Name	Hamburg
Namesake	Hamburg
Owner	Hamburg America Line
Port of registry	Hamburg
Builder	AG Vulcan, Stettin
Yard number	243
Launched	25 November 1899
Identification	code letters RLNC; ; by 1913: call sign DDH;
Fate	Interned by the US, 1914; seized, 1917
United States
Name	USS Hamburg (ID-3013)
Namesake	Powhatan, father of Pocahontas
Acquired	6 April 1917
Commissioned	16 August 1917
Decommissioned	2 September 1919
Renamed	USS Powhatan (ID-3013), 5 September 1917
Fate	Sold into merchant service; sold for scrap 1928
General characteristics
Class and type	Barbarossa-class ocean liner
Tonnage	10,531 GRT, 6,420 NRT
Length	544 ft 11.5 in (166.103 m) overall
Beam	60 ft 2 in (18.34 m)
Draft	30 ft (9.1 m)
Depth	34.7 ft (10.6 m)
Decks	4
Installed power	1,016 NHP
Propulsion	2 × quadruple-expansion engines; 2 × screws;
Speed	16 kn (30 km/h)
Complement	533
Armament	4 × 6-inch/40-caliber guns; 2 × 1-pounder guns; 2 × machine guns;

USS Powhatan (ID–3013) was a transport ship for the United States Navy during World War I. She was originally Hamburg, a Barbarossa-class ocean liner built in 1899 by AG Vulkan of Stettin, Germany, for the Hamburg America Line. At the outset of World War I the ship was interned by the United States.

She was soon chartered by the American Red Cross to take medical personnel and supplies to Europe. Renamed Red Cross, she left New York in mid-September, 1914.

When the US entered World War I in April 1917, she was seized and converted to a troop transport. Originally commissioned as USS Hamburg (ID-3013), the ship was renamed Powhatan on 5 September 1917. During World War I, she carried 15,274 troops to France and after the war she returned 11,803 servicemen to the United States.

After decommissioning by the US Navy, the ship was turned over to the United States Shipping Board, and chartered for mercantile service until broken up in 1928.

History

Hamburg

Hamburg was originally intended to be named Bavaria. She was renamed only a month before launching. On completion, SS Hamburg served the Hamburg-Far East (until 1904 when Hapag and NDL no longer combined on the mail route), Hamburg-New York and Genoa-New York runs for the Hamburg America Line. The ship was also twice used by Kaiser Wilhelm II as his state yacht for foreign visits, during which time the ship was painted white overall.^[1]

Red Cross

Due to British Royal Navy control of the seas she was caught in New York at the outbreak of World War I.

Chartered by the American Red Cross to take medical personnel and supplies to Europe and renamed Red Cross, she left New York in mid-September, 1914^[2] and called at Falmouth, England; Paulliac, France; and Rotterdam, The Netherlands, before recrossing the Atlantic in October with American refugees on board. She remained at New York for the next two and a half years.

USS Hamburg and USS Powhatan

The ship was commissioned as the troop transport USS Hamburg by the United States Navy on 16 August 1917, with Commander Gatewood Lincoln in command. She was renamed Powhatan on 5 September 1917 and began the first of 12 consecutive Atlantic crossings on 12 November 1917. Powhatan was twice attacked by a submarine in the Bay of Biscay on 4 April 1918 but survived unscathed due to prompt location and depth charging by escorting destroyers. From 12 November 1917 to 9 December 1918, she carried 15,274 troops to France and after the war she returned 11,803 servicemen to the United States.

Powhatan was decommissioned on 2 September 1919 and was turned over to the Army Transport Service at New York, and finally to the United States Shipping Board.

New Rochelle and President Fillmore

In August, 1920, the ship was renamed New Rochelle and under charter to the Baltic Steamship Corp of America, sailed from New York to Danzig. On 11 February 1921 she sailed under charter to the United States Mail Steamship Company on the same run, and in May she was again renamed Hudson

On charter to the United States Lines in August 1921, she sailed from New York to Bremen, before being renamed President Fillmore in 1922. After round the world service with the Dollar Line of San Francisco, she was sold for breaking up in 1928

References

^ Arnold Kludas. Great Passenger Ships of the World Vol 1 1858-1912. Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 24. ISBN 0-85059-174-0.
^ SS Red Cross Passenger List – 13 September 1914 at https://www.ggarchives.com/OceanTravel/Passengers/HamburgAmericanLine/RedCross-PassengerList-1914-09-13.html

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
"Online Library of Selected Images:-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS -- USS Powhatan (ID # 3013), 1917-1919". Retrieved 22 November 2011.
Lloyd's Register of Shipping. Vol. I.–Steamers. London: Lloyd's Register of Shipping. 1914.
The Marconi Press Agency Ltd (1913). The Year Book of Wireless Telegraphy and Telephony. London: The St Katherine Press.

External links

Photo gallery of Powhatan at NavSource Naval History
"SS Red Cross Passenger List – 13 September 1914". GG Archives. 13 September 1914. – Special Passenger List of Doctors, Nurses, and Officers for the SS Red Cross of the Hamburg America Line, Departing 13 September 1914 from New York to Falmouth, England, Commanded by Captain Armistead Rust, U.S.N. (Retired).