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Civilian Identification Numbered Photo Archive

Santiago (ID 2253)



Civilian call sign (1919):
Love - Fox - Cast - Vice
Freighter:

  • Built in 1906 as Tabaristan by William Hamilton and Co., Ltd., Port Glasgow, Scotland for the Anglo-Algerian Steamship Co., Ltd. (Strick Line)
  • Launched 8 September 1906
  • Completed in October 1906
  • Sold in 1907 to Cia. Cubana de Nav. of Cuba (New York and Cuba Mail Steamship Co, managers), and renamed Santiago
  • Transferred in 1914 to the New York and Cuba Mail Steamship Co. of New York
  • Acquired by the Navy 3 June 1918
  • Commissioned USS Santiago (ID 2253), 11 June 1918
  • Decommissioned 21 March 1919 at New York and transferred to the United States Shipping Board for return to her owner
  • Abandoned 11 March 1924, 60 miles south of Cape Hatteras, NC while on a voyage from Cienfeugos, Cuba to New York with a cargo of sugar. Heavy seas broached No. 2 hatch and some of the crew
    were washed overboard in a vain attempt to make the hatch secure. The ship flooded and sank 12 March 1924. Twenty five of the crew were lost, ten men were picked up from a boat.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 7,792 t.
  • Length 370'
  • Beam 44' 11"
  • Draft 22' 1½"
  • Speed 11 kts.
  • Complement 52
  • Armament: One 5"/51 mount and one 6-pounder
  • Propulsion: Two single ended and one auxiliary boiler, one 2,000ihp D. Rowan and Co. verticle triple expansion steam engine, one shaft.
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    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    No image of Santiago (ID 2253) is available at this time
    Commanding Officers
    01LT George B. Dahl, USNRF11 June 1918 - 21 March 1919
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships History: Santiago (ex-Tabaristan) was launched in 1906 by Wm. Hamilton and Co., Ltd., Port Glasgow, Scotland, and prior to her acquisition by the Navy was operated out of Havana, under Cuban registry, by the New York and Cuba Mail S.S. Co. She was taken over by the U.S. Navy on 3 June 1918 at New York for service in World War I; assigned the identification number 2253, and commissioned as a Naval Overseas Transportation Service vessel on 11 June 1918.

    Refitted for Navy use, she took on general Army cargo and sailed in convoy for Brest on 18 June. Returning in ballast, on 30 July, she sailed again on 5 August; discharged her cargo at Verdon, and put into Hoboken, N.J., on the 22d. After completing her third eastward passage at St. Nazaire on 20 October, she carried out cross-channel runs between French and British ports until after the cessation of hostilities. She completed postwar duties in mid-February 1919 and sailed for the United States, arriving in Hampton Roads on 3 March. A week later she proceeded to New York where she was decommissioned on the 21st and turned over to the United States Shipping Board for return to her owner.

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