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Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive

Jean (ID 1308)



Call sign:
Love - Boy - Fox - George

Jean served both the U. S. Army and the Navy.

Freighter:

  • Built in 1909 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Newport News, VA
  • Delivered 2 August 1909
  • Acquired by the Army in September 1917 at Newport News
  • Acquired by the Navy, 30 August 1918 and commissioned USS Jean (ID 1308) the same day
  • Decommissioned 15 April 1919 at Hoboken, NJ and returned to the United States Shipping Board for return to her owner
  • Renamed Magarite Calafate in 1926
  • Renamed Glagstone in 1927
  • Acquired by Latvia in 1928 and renamed Sporte. Came under Soviet control with the Soviet takeover of Latvia in June 1940. It was formally nationalized 29 October 1940 and assigned the new Latvian State Sea Shipping Co.
    Sporte was in Danzig, Germany at the time Germany declared war on the Soviet Union and was taken under German control on 22 June 1941. The Germans renamed the ship Magdalena. She survived the war and was
    handed over to the United Kingdom as part of post-war reparations and renamed Sporte. It later sailed under the Panamanian flag and was scrapped in 1954.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 3,125 t.
  • Length 328'
  • Beam 42' 6"
  • Draft 21'
  • Speed 10 kts.
  • Complement 84
  • Armament: Two 3" mounts
  • Propulsion: One 1,300ihp steam engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Jean 84k The photograph was taken by E.P. Griffith of Newport News, Virginia, probably at the time of the ship's completion by Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co.
    Naval Historical Center photo NH 70475    		 Robert Hurst
    Jean 61k Taken at the time of a 1917 inspection by the Third Naval District.
    Naval Historical Center photo NH 105265    		 Robert Hurst
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships: Jean, a depot collier, was built in 1909 by the Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Newport News, Va., and taken over by the Army at Newport News, in September 1917 under charter from her owner, A. H. Bull Steamship Co., of New York. On 30 August 1918 the United States Shipping Board (USSB) assumed control under Army account. She was commissioned by the Navy the same day Lt. Comdr. Daniel A. Sullivan, in command.

    Assigned to the 5th Naval District, Jean operated on bare boat charter. She took aboard 2,181 tons of general cargo at Norfolk and departed 30 September for Sydney, Nova Scotia, to join an Atlantic convey Of American and British ships which departed 7 October for Bordeaux, France. Diverted to Brest, France, she arrived 21 October with precious supplies for war-ravaged Europe. Steaming from Brest the 22d, Jean visited the ports of La Pallice, Bordeaux, and Verdon. She sailed out of Verdon harbor 3 November and arrived Newport News the 24.

    She refueled, loaded 3,164 tons of cargo, and sailed 30 December for Rio de Janeiro via Barbados. She arrived 27 January 1919, exchanged her cargo of coal for coffee beans, and departed for New York via Santos, Brazil.

    She arrived New York 20 March and discharged her cargo. Jean decommissioned 15 April at Hoboken, N.J., and was returned to her original owner through the USSB.

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