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Identification Numbered Ships Photo Archive

USAT Antigone
ex-USS Antigone (ID 3007)



Call sign:
Nan - Easy - Have

Antigone served both the U. S. Navy and Army

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from left to right
World War I Victory Medal
Acquired Transport:
  • Built by Joh. C. Tecklenborg, Geestemunde, Germany (YN 172)
  • Launched, 08 December 1900
  • Completed for Norddeutscher Lloyd, Bremen, as passenger/cargo ship Neckar, 04 May 1901
  • Interned at Baltimore, 19 September 1914
  • Seized by American government and placed on US register (ON 215458), April 1917
  • Transferred to the Navy by the United States Shipping Board, 12 July 1917
  • Converted to troop transport at Norfolk Navy Yard
  • Renamed Antigone 01 September 1917
  • Commissioned USS Antigone (ID 3007), 05 September 1917
  • Decommissioned at New York, 24 September 1919
  • Struck from the Naval Register and transferred to the War Department as the USAT Antigone same day
  • Returned to US Shipping Board
  • Put into service with United States Mail Company, 20 March 1921
  • Renamed Potomac, 05 May 1921
  • Registered to P.E. Ittmann, New York, NY, 1927
  • Final disposition, broken up Union SB Co., Baltimore, MD, arrived at yard 02 September 1927
    Specifications:
    Hull Steel
    Displacement 9835 gross tons, 6190 net tons
    Length 518' 1"
    Beam 58' 1"
    Draft 27' 0"
    Speed 14 knots
    Complement 585
    Armament
    four 5"/51 single mounts
    two 1-pounders
    two machine guns

    Propulsion
    two quadruple expansion steam engines
    two double ended and three single ended boilers
    two shafts, 5500hp
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Antigone
    1217300701    		 94k At the Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia, on 1 September 1917, the day her name was changed from Neckar and five days before she was placed in commission
    U.S. Navy photo NH 57624    		 Naval Historical Center
    Antigone
    1217300710    		 128k Imperial War Museum photo © IWM(Q 58244) from American First World War Official Exchange Collection Mike Green
    Antigone
    1217300702    		 104k In the Norfolk harbor, Virginia, on 29 November 1917. A destroyer silhouette is painted on her side to give the illusion that she is being closely convoyed. A tug is passing by the after part of the destroyer silhouette.
    Donation of Mr. Marshall Butt, Norfolk Naval Shipyard Museum.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 57625    		 Naval Historical Center
    Antigone
    1217300703    		 91k In the Norfolk harbor, Virginia, on 29 November 1917. A destroyer silhouette is painted on her side to give the illusion that she is being closely convoyed. A tug is passing by the after part of the destroyer silhouette.
    Donation of Mr. Marshall Butt, Norfolk Naval Shipyard Museum.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 57626
    Antigone
    1217300704    		 81k Underway with troops on board, probably in 1919.
    Photographed by O.W. Waterman, Hampton, Virginia.
    Courtesy of R.W. Cunningham, 1971.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 73322
    Antigone
    1217300705    		 87k In harbor, circa 1919.
    Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1972.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 76008
    Antigone
    1217300706    		 128k Halftone reproduction of a photograph showing the ship painted in World War I "dazzle" camouflage, circa 1918
    Courtesy of Charles R. Haberlein, Jr., 2008.
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 106313    		 Robert Hurst
    Antigone
    1217300707    		 177k Two color-tinted post cards, featuring a photograph of the ship in "dazzle" camouflage, circa 1918.
    Courtesy of Charles R. Haberlein, Jr., 2008.
    Naval History and Heritage Command photos NH 105779-KN and NH 105780-KN
    Antigone
    1217300708    		 178k
    Antigone
    1217300709    		 110k At St. Nazaire, France, circa early 1919 still carrying her guns.
    Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2007.
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 104950
    Antigone
    1217300711    		 90k Two RPPCs of abandon ship drill aboard Antigone, circa 1918. Dave Wright
    Antigone
    1217300712    		 75k
    Commanding Officers
    01CDR Joseph Rollie Defrees, USN - USNA Class of 1900
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1917) - Retired as Rear Admiral    		5 September 1917
    02CAPT Edwin Horace Dodd, USN - USNA Class of 1900
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1918) - Retired as Captain    		1918
    03CDR Hugo Wilson Osterhaus, USN - USNA Class of 1900
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1918) - Retired as Rear Admiral    		1918 - 1919
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    View the Antigone (ID 3007)
    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 L. Wright
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    Last Updated 30 January 2025