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Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive

Ophir (ID 2800)



Call sign (1920):
Pup - Nan - Love - Oboe


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

Freighter:

  • Laid down 30 November 1903 by Kon. Masts de Schelde, Flushing, The Netherlands
  • Launched 27 August 1904
  • Conducted trial 8 November 1904
  • Completed 14 November 1904
  • Acquired by the Navy 21 March 1918
  • Commissioned 25 March 1918
  • Severly damaged by fire 11 November 1918 at Gibraltar and sank
  • Raised 10 February 1919 and repaired
  • Transferred to the War Department 16 January 1920
  • Acquired in 1920 by the Beaver Steamship Co.
  • Scrapped in 1925.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 8,905 t.
  • Length 406' 6"
  • Beam 47' 1"
  • Draft 24' 10"
  • Speed 15 kts.
  • Complement 67
  • Armament: One 6"/50 mount and one 4"/50 mount
  • Propulsion: Two double ended and two single ended boilers, one 3,600hp vertical triple expansion steam engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    SS Ophir
    Ophir 66k Photo from Shipscribe.com Robert Hurst
    Ophir 46k Shiplovers.com photo from Shipscribe.com
    Ophir 84k In port, circa March 1918, painted in World War I neutrality markings featuring Dutch flag colors running nearly the ship's full length
    U.S. Navy photo NH 99588    		 Naval Historical Center
    USS Ophir (ID 2800)
    Ophir 61k Crewmen standing by a six-inch gun, mounted aft on the ship, circa 1918
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 41704    		 Robert Hurst
    Ophir 96k In port in April 1918, still painted in World War I Dutch neutrality markings
    U.S. Navy photo NH 60684    		 Naval Historical Center
    Ophir 108k Burning at Gibraltar in November 1918. Ophir caught fire and burned for three days before sinking at Gibraltar on Armistice Day, 11 November 1918. The original photo caption reads "Mustard Gas Escaping"
    Collection of George K. Beach
    Naval Historical Center photo NH 91190    		 Robert Hurst
    Ophir 169k View of the ship's port bow, taken while she was afire at Gibraltar in November 1918. Ophir caught fire and burned for three days before sinking on 11 November 1918. The original photo caption reads “One Who Will Never Return”
    Collection of George K. Beach
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 99597    		 Mike Green
    Ophir 98k Ship's survivors at Gibraltar, 13 November 1918
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 41737    		 Robert Hurst
    Ophir 182k In a U.S. East Coast harbor, on 12 January 1920, showing fire damage. Ophir, a former Dutch passenger-cargo steamer, took fire and burned three days before sinking at Gibraltar on Armistice Day, 11 November 1918. She was raised by the U.S. Government and returned to the United States on 9 January 1920
    Photographed by A. E. Wells, Washington, D.C.
    Naval Historical Center photo NH 154
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Malcolm P. Nash, USNRF - Awarded the Navy Cross (1918) and a Certificate of Appreciation from the Secretary of the Navy25 March 1918 - 1919
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships History: Ophir (ID-2800), built by Kon. Masts de Schelde, Flushing, The Netherlands, in 1904, operated by the Rotterdamsehe Lloyd Line, and seized at Pearl Harbor by U. S. Customs officials under the authority of the Presidential Proclamation of 20 March 1918, was turned over to the Navy 21 March 1918 and commissioned 25 March 1918, Lt. Comdr. M. P. Nash, USNRF, in command.

    Ophir, a freight and passenger liner, sailed from Pearl Harbor 2 April on her maiden voyage as a NOTS ship. On 14 May she arrived at New York, whence she continued on to La Pallice, France. Arriving 5 June, she sailed to Verdun on the 27th, thence steamed back to New York. During the next three months, she completed two more round-trip crossings between New York and the Atlantic/English Channel coast of France. On 25 October she set out for Gibraltar and the ports of southern France. Arriving at the former on the 8th, she was underway for Marseilles when an internal explosion and subsequent fire brought her back to Gibraltar where she burned, 11 November. The fire cost the lives of two of her crew and totally destroyed her Army cargo. She was repaired at Gibraltar and on 25 November 1919 set out for the United States. Returning to the east coast in early January 1920, she was turned over to the War Department, at Norfolk, 16 January 1920.

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