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Identification Numbered Vessel Photo Archive

Pleiades (ID 1616)



Civilian call sign (1919):
King - Pup - Sail - Love
Freighter:

  • Built in 1900 by the Maryland Steel Co., Sparrows Point, MD
  • Acquired by the Navy 27 August 1918 and commissioned USS Pleiades (ID 1616) at New York the same day
  • Struck from the Navy Register 6 March 1919
  • Decommissioned 7 March 1919 at Philadelphia, PA and transferred to the United States Shipping Board for return to her owner
  • Renamed Segundo in 1923
  • Renamed Cabo Santa Maria in 1925
  • Renamed Mina Piqurea in 1932
  • Scrapped in Spain in 1950.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 8,545 t.
  • Length 331' 6"
  • Beam 47'
  • Draft 24'
  • Speed 10 kts.
  • Complement 81
  • Armament: Two 4"/40 mounts
  • Propulsion: Two single ended boilers, one 1,600hp vertical triple expansion steam engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Pleiades 62k Naval Historical Center photo NH 65117 Robert Hurst
    Pleiades 131k Photograph taken around the time of a 1917 inspection by the Third Naval District.
    Naval Historical Center photo NH 105281
    Pleiades 86k In service with the Luckenbach Steamship Co., probably between 1919 and 1923
    Photo from Shipscribe.com
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships: Pleiades (ID 1616), built in 1900 by the Maryland Steel Co., Sparrows Point, Md. was taken over by WSA [War Shipping Administration] from her owner, Luckenbach S.S. Co., New York, and turned over to the Navy, on bare boat charter, 26 August 1918; and commissioned 27 August 1918.

    Refitted at New York for use as a NOTS vessel, on Army account, Pleiades completed one cargo run to France and back, before the end of the First World War, 11 November 1918. Following the Armistice, she crossed the Atlantic once more, returning to the United States 29 January 1919. Reconditioned, she decommissioned, 7 March 1919, and was returned to her owner, at Philadelphia, 18 March 1919.

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