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Identification Numbered Vessel Photo Archive

W. L. Steed (ID 3449)



Civilian call sign (1919):
Love - Mike - Tare - George
Tanker:

  • Built in 1918 by the Fore River Shipbuilding Co., Quincy, MA
  • Acquired by the Navy 18 September 1918 at Boston, MA and commissioned USS W. L. Steed (ID 3449) the same day
  • Decommissioned 26 March 1919, returned to the United States Shipping Board and struck from the Navy list the same day
  • Sold in 1922 to the Pan-American Petroleum and Transport Co. of Baltimore, MD
  • Sold in 1937 to the Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey
  • Torpedoed and sunk 2 February 1942 by the German submarine U-103, 90 miles off the mouth of the Delaware River. Her crew of thirty-eight all abandoned ship in her lifeboats, but exposure to
    winter weather took the lives of all but four.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 11,070 t.
  • Length 433'
  • Beam 56'
  • Draft 25' 6"
  • Speed 10.5 kts.
  • Complement 89
  • Armament: One 6"/50 and 3"/50 mount
  • Propulsion: Three single ended boilers, one 2,600hp vertical triple expansion steam engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Tanker W. L. Steed
    W. L. Steed 157k Launching, at the Fore River Shipbuilding Company shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts, 1918
    U.S. Navy photo NH 41864    		 Naval Historical Center
    W. L. Steed 130k 10 September 1918
    A week before being completed and commissioned in the U.S. Navy
    National Archives photo from Shipscribe.com    		 Robert Hurst
    W. L. Steed 109k 10 September 1918
    Probably on builder's trials
    National Archives photo from Shipscribe.com
    USS W. L. Steed (ID 3449)
    W. L. Steed 67k Photographed in 1918, while painted in pattern camouflage.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 89436    		 Naval Historical Center
    View the W. L. Steed (ID 3449)
    DANFS history entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command website
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