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Identification Numbered Vessel Photo Archive

Clio (ID 2578)



Call sign (1913):
Pup - Dog - King - Xray

Call sign (1933):
Negative - King - Hypo - Dog
Freighter:

  • Built in 1910 by the Werfte Voorh Rijkee and Co., Rotterdam, The Netherlands
  • Launched 19 February 1910
  • Acquired by the Navy, 21 March 1918
  • Commissioned USS Clio (ID 2578), 3 April 1918
  • Decommissioned 23 April 1918 at New Orleans, LA and transferred to the United States Shipping Board for return to her owners, Koninklijke Nederlandsche Stoomboot Mij. (Royal Dutch Steamship
    Society) of Amsterdam, Holland
  • Sold in 1934 to Sovtorgflot of Leningrad, Soviet Union, renamed Desna and assigned her to the Black Sea State Sea Shipping Co.
  • Struck a Soviet mine in 1941 and was damaged
  • On 9 November 1941, while under tow in Novorossisk Bay, Russia it struck a German aircraft-laid mine and sank at location 44° 43' N., 37° 49' E.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 2,927 t.
  • Length 332'
  • Beam 44' 4"
  • Draft 18'
  • Speed 9.5 kts.
  • Propulsion: Three single-ended boilers, one (NV Scheepsbouwmaatschappij Fijenoord [Shipbuilding Co.], Rotterdam, Holland) 1,250hp vertical triple-expansion steam engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Clio 68k Royal Netherlandsche-Steamboat Society photo from Shipscribe.com Robert Hurst
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Didrik M. Helle, USNRF3 April 1918
    02LT John Robert Hudgins, USNRF1918 - 1919
    Courtesy Joe Radigan and Wolfgang Hechler
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships:

    Clio

    The muse of history in Greek mythology.

    The first Clio (No. 2578) was built in 1910 by Werfte Voorh Rijkee and Co., Rotterdam, Holland; seized by Customs officials at Key West, Fla., under the 20 March 1918 Presidential Proclamation; transferred to the Navy from the Shipping Board 21 March 1918; and commissioned 3 April 1918, Lieutenant Commander D. M. Helle, USNRF, in command.

    Assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service, Clio sailed from Key West 5 April for Havana, Cuba, arriving the next day. She departed Cuba 15 April and arrived 4 days later at New Orleans, La., where she was placed out of commission and returned to the Shipping Board 23 April 1918.

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