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Unnumbered Photo Archive

USAT Northern Pacific



Army call sign:
George - Watch - Dog - Rush

ex-USS Northern Pacific



Navy call sign:
George - Tare - Dog - Vice


Northern Pacific served both the U. S. Navy and Army

Transport:

  • Laid down 25 September 1913 by William Cramp and Sons, Ship and Engine Building Co., Philadelphia, PA for the Great Northern Pacific Steam Ship Company of Astoria, OR
  • Launched 7 July 1914
  • Completed in January 1915
  • Acquired by the Navy 17 September 1917
  • Commissioned USS Northern Pacific 3 November 1917
  • Decommissioned 20 August 1919 and transferred to the Army Transport Service as USAT Northern Pacific and assigned to the Army Transport Service Pacific Fleet with home port at Fort Mason, CA
  • Returned to the United States Shipping Board 22 November 1921
  • Sold 2 February 1922 to the Pacific Steamship Co. of Chester, PA
  • Destroyed by fire 2 August 1922, 25 miles southeast of Cape May, NJ while being towed to their yard at Chester.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 9,708 t.
  • Length 525' 8"
  • Beam 63' 1"
  • Draft 21'
  • Speed 23 kts.
  • Complement 371
  • Armament: Four 6" mounts, two 1-pounders and two machine guns
  • Propulsion: Twelve Babcock and Wilcox water tube boilers, three 25,000shp Parsons steam turbines, three shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    SS Northern Pacific
    Northern Pacific 118k Before launching on 17 October 1914
    Image from the December 1914 edition of International Marine Engineering, Volume XIX    		 Robert Hurst
    Northern Pacific 101k Launching at the Cramp Shipyard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1914
    Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2000
    U.S. Navy photo NH 103277    		 Naval Historical Center
    Northern Pacific 114k In harbor, probably when completed in 1914
    U.S. Navy photo NH 60664
    Northern Pacific 282k Undated post card Tommy Trampp
    USS Northern Pacific
    Northern Pacific 111k At Hoboken, New Jersey, on 17 June 1918, after being painted in "dazzle" type camouflage. The Baltimore & Ohio Rail Road barge Harpers Ferry is in the left foreground
    U.S. Navy photo NH 44753    		 Naval Historical Center
    Northern Pacific 128k Photographed in 1918, while wearing her "dazzle" camouflage
    U.S. Navy photos NH 775 and NH 78285
    Northern Pacific 141k
    Northern Pacific 72k At Brest, France, during the latter half of 1918. Photographed from onboard USS Leviathan (ID-1326)
    Naval Historical Center photo NH 53775-A    		 Robert Hurst
    Northern Pacific 240k Original photo: Alongside a pier, in 1918 or early 1919
    Donation of Charles R. Haberlein Jr., 2007
    Naval Historical Center photo NH 105115    		 Original photo: Robert Hurst
    Replacement photo: David Wright
    SC-291 126k c. January 1919
    The submarine chaser SC-291 loaded with troops from the stranded Northern Pacific off Fire Island, NY leaving for the military hospitals near New York Harbor
    National Archives photo RG-165WW, Fiche 1184    		 Dan Treadwell
    Northern Pacific 116k Stranded off Fire Island, New York, in early January 1919, with USS SC-291 off her stern disembarking wounded troops, and other ships standing by further offshore. An HS-1 type seaplane is overhead
    Collection of James Lee, USNRF
    U.S. Navy photo NH 1023    		 Naval Historical Center
    Northern Pacific 105k Stranded off Fire Island, New York, in early January 1919. There is a swamped boat on the beach (with letter "C" on its bow), another boat full of men just off Northern Pacific's stern, and destroyers standing by offshore
    U.S. Navy photo NH 44755
    Northern Pacific 124k Stranded off Fire Island, New York, after going aground on 1 January 1919. USS SC-294 and several boats are alongside
    U.S. Navy photo NH 44756
    Northern Pacific 85k Stranded off Fire Island, New York, after going aground on 1 January 1919. Men are visible on the ship's stern, and in a boat just below. A Curtiss HS-1 type flying boat is overhead
    U.S. Navy photo NH 44757
    Northern Pacific 76k Stranded off Fire Island, New York, after going aground on 1 January 1919. Soldiers in the foreground are standing by a breeches buoy, which was used to bring men ashore from the ship after she grounded
    U.S. Navy photo NH 44758
    Northern Pacific 60k Stranded off Fire Island, New York, after going aground on 1 January 1919. A destroyer and two other ships are standing by offshore, and a boat is near Northern Pacific's stern. Soldiers in the foreground are examining a beached and swamped boat, which has the letter "C" on its bow
    U.S. Navy photo NH 44759
    Northern Pacific 127k Photograph shows soldiers returning from World War I being rescued from USS Northern Pacific, which ran aground off Fire Island, Long Island, New York on 1 January 1919
    Library of Congress photo LC-B2- 4827-8    		 Mike Green
    Northern Pacific 125k Aground off Fire Island, New York, circa 1-18 January 1919. SC-291 or SC-294 is off her starboard quarter. The original print was made by Naval Air Station Rockaway Beach, New York, and is dated 20 February 1919
    Collection of Harry Polunsky. Donated by his grandson, Stephen Polunsky, 1974
    U.S. Navy photo NH 103179    		 Naval Historical Center
    Northern Pacific 124k Stranded off Fire Island, New York, during the first half of January 1919. Several U.S. Navy destroyers and other ships are offshore, engaged in rescue and salvage operations
    Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2005
    U.S. Navy photo NH 103278
    Northern Pacific 123k In Drydock No. 3 at the New York Navy Yard while undergoing repairs after her 1 January 1919 grounding off Fire Island. She was in drydock from 11 February to 10 May 1919. Note that the ship's armament has been removed. She has been partially repainted, but some of her World War I "dazzle" camouflage pattern is still visible on her forward superstructure
    U.S. Navy photo NH 44747
    Northern Pacific 136k In Drydock No. 3 while under repair at the New York Navy Yard, circa February-May 1919. Northern Pacific had been damaged in an accidental grounding off Fire Island, N.Y., on 1 January 1919
    U.S. Navy photo NH 44751
    Northern Pacific 108k Panoramic photograph by Head-Mayberry, New York, showing the ship being assisted by U.S. Army tugs upon her arrival in New York Harbor while bringing U.S. service personnel home from Europe, circa mid-1919
    Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2007
    Naval Historical Center photo NH 104732    		 Robert Hurst
    USAT Northern Pacific
    Northern Pacific 189k USAT Northern Pacific with steam lighter alongside the ship to transfer World War I era fatalities for transportation home to the United States, circa 1919-1921
    Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2007
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 105421    		 Robert Hurst
    Northern Pacific 160k 4 December 1919
    Panama Canal
    In Gatun Locks (Leaving Upper East Chamber), Secretary of War Newton D. Baker aboard
    National Archives photo 185-G-0910    		 Michael Mohl
    Photo added 23 January 2022
    Northern Pacific 95k Photo courtesy of Mariner's Museum, Newport News, VA Gary Priolo
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Alfred T. Hunter, USN3 November 1917
    02CAPT Charles Francis Preston, USN - USNA Class of 1891
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1918) - Retired as Captain    		1918
    03CAPT Louis J. Connelly, USN - Retired as Captain1919
    Commanding Officers
    01CAPT A. O. Lustie, USMM21 August 1919 - 22 December 1921
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    View the Northern Pacific
    DANFS history entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command website
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    This page created by Joseph M. Radigan and maintained by David Wright
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