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Identification Numbered Vessel Photo Archive

Guantanamo (ID 1637)



Civilian call sign (1919):
Love - Fox - George - Boy
Freighter:

  • Built in 1910 as Registan by William Gray and Co., Ltd., West Hartlepool, County Durham, England for the Anglo-Algerian Steamship Co., Ltd.
  • Launched 9 May 1910
  • Sold in 1911 to the New York and Cuba Mail Steamship Company and renamed Guantanamo
  • Acquired by the Navy 25 February 1918
  • Delivered to the Navy 20 May 1918
  • Commissioned USS Guantanamo (ID 1637), 21 May 1918 at Philadelphia, PA
  • Decommissioned 25 January 1919 at New York and struck from the Navy Register
  • Returned to her owners, 4 February 1919
  • Renamed Comerio in 1927
  • Acquired in 1935 by Agwilines, Inc. of New York
  • Acquired in 1940 by Comm. Giuseppe Bozzo of Genoa, Italy and renamed Vittorin
  • Seized in March 1941 at Norfolk, VA, turned over to the War Shipping Administration and renamed Grey Lag
  • Placed in service 15 October 1941 with the South Atlantic Steamship Company
  • Chartered 22 January 1943 by the Army as USAT Grey Lag
  • Released from Army service 27 April 1946 and acquired by Coastwise Steamship
  • Sold 19 September 1946 to the Republic of China, Shanghai represented by the Chinese Supply Commission and renamed Hai Lung
  • Scrapped at Taiwan in January 1960.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 7,930 t.
  • Length 362'
  • Beam 46' 6"
  • Draft 20' 7"
  • Speed 11 kts.
  • Complement 62
  • Armament: One 5"/40 mount and one 6-pounder
    1943 - One 4"/50 mount and two 20mm mounts
  • Propulsion: Two single ended boilers, one Central Marine Engine Works 2,400hp vertical triple expansion steam engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    SS Guantanamo
    Guantanamo 85k In port, possibly when inspected by the Third Naval District on 5 October 1917
    Naval Historical Center photo NH 105205    		 Robert Hurst
    USAT Grey Lag
    Guantanamo 85k 4 April 1943
    Photo 303349 courtesy Australian War Memorial    		 Robert Hurst
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR John S. Baldwin, USNRF1918
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships: Guantanamo was built as Registan in 1910 by W. Gray & Co. of West Hartlepool, England; turned over to the Navy 25 February 1918 for use as a cargo transport; and commissioned 21 May 1918.

    Gunpowder was Guantanamo's main cargo as she plied from New York to St. Nazaire, gunpowder to support the Allied war effort about to reach its climax in Europe; she made three such trips in convoy between commissioning 3 and 11 December 1918 when she returned to New York to prepare for demobilization. Decommissioned at New York 25 January 1919, Guantanamo was returned to her owners, New York & Cuba Mail Steam Ship Co. 4 February 1919.

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