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Identification Numbered Vessel Photo Archive

West Hosokie (ID 3695)

Civilian call sign (1919):
Love - Mike - Sail - Have

Constance Chandler call sign (1933):
William - Fox - Easy - Interrogatory

Freighter:

Built in 1918 by the Skinner and Eddy Corp., Seattle, WA

Launched 15 August 1918

Acquired by the Navy 29 August 1918 and commissioned USS West Hosokie (ID 3695) the same day

Decommissioned 2 July 1919 at Newport News, VA, struck from the Navy list and returned to the United States Shipping Board

Sold in 1929 to the Los Angeles Steamship Co. of Los Angeles, CA

Renamed Constance Chandler in 1930

Sold in 1935 to the Matson Steamship Line

Renamed Liloa in 1938

Transferred by the War Shipping Administration in 1944 to the Soviet Union late in World War II, being handed over 13 January 1945 and assigned under the name Belorussia to the Far East State Sea

Shipping Co.

Never returned to the U.S., it served in the Soviet Union for many years until being handed over for disposal 28 November 1960

Scrapped in 1968.

Specifications:

Displacement 12,100.5 t.

1933 - 5,523 t.

Length 423' 9"

409.6'

Beam 54'

1933 - 54.2'

Depth of hold 29' 9"

Draft 24'

1933 - 27.1'

Speed 11.5 kts.

Complement 70

1933 - 36

Propulsion: Three single ended boilers, one 2,500shp General Electric steam Turbine, one shaft.

Click on thumbnail for full size image	Size	Image Description	Source
West Hosokie
	268k	National Archives photo 165-WW 499 120 by Webster and Stevens Studios	Mike Mohl
	116k	Photographed by her builder, while on trials off Seattle on 29 August 1918. She had been built in 65 working days U.S. Navy photo NH 65073-A	Naval Historical Center
USS West Hosokie (ID 3695)
	127k	At the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, circa March 1919 U.S. Navy photo NH 399	Naval Historical Center
	218k	11 March 1919 Off the Philadelphia Navy Yard Her pattern camouflage is a modified version of that applied when she was completed in August 1918. Note the absence of guns, and signalman "wig-wagging" (Sending message by semaphore) atop the pilothouse Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH48486	Robert Hurst Photo added 2 June 2022
	162k	Ship's officers and men aboard West Hosokie pose with a 14"/50 Mark IV gun stowed on her foredeck, after it had been transported across the Atlantic from France. Taken at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, circa 10 March 1919. Photographed by Charles M. Clark, Ledger Art Service, Philadelphia. These guns were part of the Naval Railway Battery in France during the final months of World War I Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 41945	Robert Hurst
	109k	Unloading 14"/50 Mark IV guns being unloaded from West Hosokie at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, circa 10 March 1919. Photographed by Charles M. Clark, Ledger Art Service, Philadelphia. These guns were part of the Naval Railway Battery in France during the final months of World War I Naval History and Heritage Command photos NH 41941, NH 41939 and NH 41940
	115k
	108k
	157k	A 14"/50 Mark IV gun being unloaded from West Hosokie, at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, circa 10 March 1919. This gun was part of the Naval Railway Battery in France during the final months of World War I Photographed by Charles M. Clark, Ledger Art Service, Philadelphia U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 41942
	131k	Gun Car Girder for a 14"/50 Naval Railway Gun being unloaded from West Hosokie at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, 10 March 1919. Photographed by Charles M. Clark, Ledger Art Service, Philadelphia. This girder, with the number "300652" visible on its side, was part of the Naval Railway Battery in France during the final months of World War I Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 41944