SS Admiral Halstead

SS ''Admiral Halstead'' was a merchant ship built in 1920 by the Submarine Boat Corporation, Newark, New Jersey that was diverted to Australia. The convoy reached Brisbane on 22 December 1941 with ''Admiral Halstead'' being placed under U.S. Army charter that day to be operated by its company, the Pacific Lighterage Company. The convoy provided the base for the United States Army buildup in Australia. ''Admiral Halstead'' was sent to northern Australia arriving at Darwin to be present when the port was bombed on 19 February 1942. The ship came under attack along with the transports of the Timor Convoy escorted by and other ships in port. ''Admiral Halstead'' was damaged and the crew abandoned but returned and over the next five days, working at night and moving to an anchorage by day, unloaded some 8,000 drums of the cargo of aviation gasoline.

Construction

Submarine Boat Corporation, Newark, New Jersey, had operated the Newark yard to build Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) Design 1023 ships designed by Theodore E. Ferris for the United States Shipping Board (USSB) with thirty-two hulls cancelled as the war ended. After the war the USSB agreed to sell the yard to the operator after paying rent for three years and selling steel on hand at half the original cost. Those thirty-two ships were then completed on Submarine Boat's own account. ''Suwordenco'', yard number 142, was launched on 22 October 1920 and completed in November 1920. The name was a construct given to all thirty-two ships. It was formed by a standard prefix "Su" and suffix "co" from Submarine Boat Corporation with an intervening "word" based on a person, place or company. ''Suwordenco'' was named for company general manager B. L. Worden. The ship, assigned official number 220862 and call letters MCBK, was registered in New York, New York operated by Submarine Boat's shipping subsidiary, Transmarine.

The standard ship's specifications were for a , ship of length overall, length between perpendiculars, molded beam, molded depth, loaded displacement of 7,615 tons with a draft of . Ship's power for propulsion and auxiliaries was steam from two Babcock & Wilcox oil fired water tube boilers. Propulsion was by a Westinghouse steam turbine providing 1,500 shaft horsepower that could propel the ship at . Five cargo holds had a bale capacity of , and a grain capacity of . Bunker capacity of gave a range of over .

Submarine Boat went into receivership in 1930 with its Transmarine operating subsidiary ceasing operations. ''Suwordenco'', the last operating ship, arrived in the port of San Pedro, California on 13 January 1930 with an uncertain future. ''Suwordenco'' was sold later in 1930 to operate with the Admiral Line of the Pacific Steamship Company and renamed ''Admiral Halstead''.The name is likely in honor o
Rear Admiral Alexander S. Halstead
commander of U.S. Naval Forces in France during the WW I. He directed the return of troops after the war. After renovation by the Moore Dry Dock Company, Oakland, California, the ship was put on the Puget Sound — California route. In 1936 the ship was sold to Pacific Lighterage.

The company's main routes were from Alaska to California but it had some service into the Pacific to the Philippines. ''Admiral Halstead'' was on such service in May 1939 when it lent assistance to the effort to get the off a reef at Guam.

World War II

Pacific Lighterage's ''Admiral Halstead'' entered the war as part of the Pensacola Convoy that departed Honolulu on the way to the Philippines. The ship's cargo was approximately 3,000 drums of aviation gasoline.Cargo of the three civilian vessels is described in Mayo as "loaded with general civilian cargo for merchants in Guam and the Philippines" but other references are clear that ''Bloemfontein'' carried crated P-40s, munitions and passengers while ''Admiral Halstead'' had drummed aviation gasoline that after arrival at Brisbane and apparently augmented ended up at Darwin the day before the Japanese attack on that port. The convoy, avoiding the Japanese Mandate island areas with a route southwest, had crossed the Equator on 6 December and received the news of war the morning of 7 December 1941. The convoy arrived at Brisbane on 22 December. On arrival ''Admiral Halstead'' was placed under U.S. Army charter with Pacific Lighterage as operator. The ship became part of the Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA) Australian based permanent local fleet on 31 December 1941 assigned the local identification number X-3.

The ship arrived in Darwin on 18 February 1942 loaded with 14,000 drums of aviation gasoline destined for the Philippines. On 19 February 1942 Japanese aircraft attacked the port, surrounding installations, and other ships in the port and area. Those ships included ships of the Timor convoySome references have ''Admiral Halstead'' as a part of the Timor Convoy escorted by . The official references are specific about the ships in that convoy: U.S. transports ''Mauna Loa'' and ''Meigs''; Australian transports ''Tulagi'' and ''Portmar''. that had been escorted by and turned back by air attacks. ''Admiral Halstead'' was strafed and near bomb misses sprung plates causing some flooding. The crew abandoned ship but returned to bring the ship in to unload the critical aviation gasoline cargo over a number of nights and going offshore to during the day. The crew of the heavily damaged and beached was drafted to unload the cargo. At one point, after objecting that the troops and Australian stevedores were idle and not so engaged, they were held under arrest.

''Admiral Halstead'' remained with the SWPA permanent local fleet until August 1945.

Post war

''Admiral Halstead'' was delivered for commercial operation to Pacific Lighterage at San Francisco on 2 March 1946. The company became Pacific Mail Steamship Company in 1947 with the ship operating with that line until broken up in 1949.

See also

* sister ship
* SS ''Coast Farmer '' sister ship
* SS ''Coast Trader'' sister ship

Footnotes

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Admiral Halstead
1920 ships
Merchant ships of the United States
Ships built by the Submarine Boat Company
Design 1023 ships