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Identification Numbered Vessel Photo Archive

Berkshire (ID 1578)



Civilian call sign:
Jig - Vice - Nan - Rush
Passenger Ship:

  • The first Berkshire was built in 1881 by William Cramp and Sons, Philadelphia, PA
  • Acquired by the Navy 1 April 1918
  • Commissioned USS Berkshire (ID 1578), 24 April 1918
  • Decommissioned 22 March 1919 at New York and returned to her owner, the Merchants and Miners Transportation Co. of Baltimore, MD
  • Struck from the Navy Register 7 July 1919
  • Sold to the American Star Line
  • Renamed Luxor in 1925
  • Scrapped in 1926.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 2,300 t.
  • Length 250'
  • Beam 36' 6"
  • Draft 20'
  • Speed 12 kts.
  • Complement 86
  • Propulsion: Four single ended boilers, 0ne 1,500hp compound steam engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Berkshire 115k In port, probably prior to her World War I U.S. Navy service
    U.S. Navy Photo NH 94207    		 Naval Historical Center
    Berkshire 117k c. 1918
    National Archives photo    		 Shipscribe
    Commanding Officers
    01LT Clarence C. Jones, USNRF24 April 1918
    02LT Olaf Anderson, USNRF1919
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships History:

    Berkshire

    Berkshire is a county in Massachusetts.

    Berkshire (No. 1578), a passenger vessel, was built in 1881 by William Cramp and Sons, Ship and Engine Building Co., Philadelphia, Pa.; chartered by the Shipping Board and delivered to the Navy 1 April 1918; and commissioned 24 April 1918, Lieutenant C. C. Jones, USNRF, in command.

    Assigned to the 3rd Naval District, Berkshire operated in Long Island Sound instructing personnel of the Emergency Meet Corporation and the Navy in mine sweeping techniques and operations, until decommissioned and returned to her former owner 22 March 1919 at New York.

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