SS Montanan

SS ''Montanan'' was a cargo ship built in 1912 for the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company. During World War I service for the United States Army Transport Service, she was known as USAT ''Montanan''. ''Montanan'' was built by the Maryland Steel Company as one of eight sister ships for the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company, and was employed in inter-coastal service via the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and the Panama Canal after it opened.

In World War I, USAT ''Montanan'' carried cargo and animals to France, and was in the first American convoy to sail to France after the United States entered the war in April 1917. USAT ''Montanan'' was torpedoed and sunk by west of Le Verdon-sur-Mer, France, while it took part in another eastbound convoy in August 1918, Of the 86 men aboard the ship, 81 were rescued by a convoy escort; five men died in the attack.

Design and construction

In September 1911, the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company placed an order with the Maryland Steel Company of Sparrows Point, Maryland, for four new cargo ships—, , ''Montanan'', and .Maryland Steel had built three ships—, , and —for American-Hawaiian in 1909 in what proved to be a satisfactory arrangement for both companies. See: Cochran and Ginger, p. 358. The contract cost of the ships was set at the construction cost plus an 8% profit for Maryland Steel, but with a maximum cost of $640,000 per ship. The construction was financed by Maryland Steel with a credit plan that called for a 5% down payment in cash, with nine monthly installments for the balance. The deal had provisions that allowed some of the nine installments to be converted into longer-term notes or mortgages. The final cost of ''Montanan'', including financing costs, was $73.62 per deadweight ton, which came out to just over $692,000.

''Montanan'' (Maryland Steel yard no. 126) was the second ship built under the original contract.Further contracts on similar terms were signed in November 1911 and May 1912 to build four additional ships: , , , . See: Cochran and Ginger, p. 358, and Colton. She was launched on 25 January 1913, and delivered to American-Hawaiian in April. ''Montanan'' was , and was in length and abeam. She had a deadweight tonnage of , and her cargo holds, which had a storage capacity of , were outfitted with a complete refrigeration plant so that she could carry perishable products from the West Coast—such as fresh produce from Southern California farms—to the East Coast. ''Montanan'' had a single steam engine powered by oil-fired boilers which drove a single screw propeller at a speed of .

Early career

When ''Montanan'' began sailing for American-Hawaiian, the company shipped cargo from East Coast ports via the Tehuantepec Route to West Coast ports and Hawaii, and vice versa. Shipments on the Tehuantepec Route arrived at Mexican ports— Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, for eastbound cargo, and Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, for westbound cargo—and traversed the Isthmus of Tehuantepec on the Tehuantepec National Railway. Eastbound shipments were primarily sugar and pineapple from Hawaii, while westbound cargoes were more general in nature.Cochran and Ginger, p. 355–56. ''Montanan'' sailed in this service on the east side of North America.Warwick and Foree, p. 132.

While headed from New York to Coatzacoalcos in October 1913, ''Montanan'' ran aground on Mantanilla Reef, north of The Bahamas. Answering ''Montanan''s distress calls, the Standard Oil Company tanker ''Rayo'' assisted in freeing ''Montanan'' from the reef. Although she was leaking slightly, ''Montanan'' continued on to her destination, and put in for repairs after a return trip to New York.

Following the United States occupation of Veracruz on 21 April 1914 (which took place while six American-Hawaiian ships were being held in various Mexican ports), the Huerta-led Mexican government closed the Tehuantepec National Railway to American shipping. This loss of access, coupled with the fact that the Panama Canal was not yet open, caused American-Hawaii to return to its historic route of sailing around South America via the Straits of Magellan in late April.Cochran and Ginger, p. 360. With the opening of the Panama Canal on 15 August, American-Hawaiian ships switched to the canal route.

On 2 December, ''The Washington Post'' reported an incident involving ''Montanan''. While headed down the Pacific coast of Mexico with a cargo of dried fruits and canned goods, ''Montanan'' was approached by a Japanese warship, which fired a warning shot for ''Montanan'' to stop. After doing so, a boarding party with Japanese officers in a launch headed to ''Montanan''. When the American identity of ''Montanan'' was established to the satisfaction of the Japanese, they returned to their ship without boarding ''Montanan''. The news report did not identify the type or the name of the Japanese warship, which had been searching for a German vessel thought to be operating in the area.Japan had declared war on Germany on 23 August 1914.

On ''Montanan''s next trip, the ship collided with a wharf in Los Angeles Harbor. ''Montanan'' had arrived in Los Angeles from Puget Sound on 22 January 1915 to complete her load before sailing for New York and Boston. The almost fully loaded ship was slow to respond to the helm and ended up "ploughing through" of Municipal Pier A on Mormon Island channel before coming to a stop at a stone bulkhead. One hull plate on ''Montanan'' was dented, but the ship was otherwise undamaged. ''Montanan''s captain, who had a local license, did not take on a harbor pilot and American-Hawaiian was liable for the damage, estimated by the harbor engineer to be $2,500.

Contemporary news reports offer hints at cargoes that ''Montanan'' carried during this period. In April 1915, the ''Los Angeles Times'' reported on the sailing of ''Montanan'' with a full cargo. The majority of the cargo was rice—from Japan, China, and California—which was destined for the United Kingdom to feed Indian troops fighting in Europe. In June, ''The Wall Street Journal'' reported that ''Montanan'' and (of the Grace Line) had sailed from Tacoma, Washington, with 2,500 tons of copper between them.

In October 1915, landslides closed the Panama Canal and all American-Hawaiian ships, including ''Montanan'', returned to the Straits of Magellan route again.Cochran and Ginger, p. 361. ''Montanan''s exact movements from this time through early 1917 are unclear. She may have been in the half of the American-Hawaiian fleet that was chartered for transatlantic service, or she may have been in the group of American-Hawaiian ships chartered for service to South America, delivering coal, gasoline, and steel in exchange for coffee, nitrates, cocoa, rubber, and manganese ore.Cochran and Ginger, p. 362.

U.S. Army service

After the United States declared war on Germany in April 1917, the United States Army—needing transports to get its men and materiel to France—had a select committee of shipping executives pore over registries of American shipping. The committee selected ''Montanan'', her sister ship ''Dakotan'', and 12 other American-flagged ships that were sufficiently fast, could carry enough fuel in their bunkers for transatlantic crossings, and, most importantly, were in port or not far at sea. After ''Montanan'' discharged her last load of cargo, she was officially handed over to the Army on 29 May.

Before troop transportation began, all of the ships were hastily refitted. Of the fourteen ships, four, including ''Montanan'' and ''Dakotan'', were designated to carry animals and other cargo; the other ten were designated to carry troops. Ramps and stalls were built on the four ships chosen to carry livestock. Gun platforms were installed on each ship before docking at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where the guns were put in place.The only exception was for , an American Line steamer in transatlantic service to Liverpool. ''Finland'' had already been outfitted for guns in early 1917. All the ships were manned by merchant officers and crews but carried two U.S. Navy officers, Navy gun crews, quartermasters, signalmen, and wireless operators. The senior Navy officer on board would take control if a ship came under attack.

The American convoy carrying the first units of the American Expeditionary Force was separated into four groups;The individual groups of the first convoy were typically counted as separate convoys in post-war sources. See, for example, Crowell and Wilson, Appendix G, p. 603. ''Montanan'' was in the fourth group with her sister ship ''Dakotan'', Army transports and , and escorts consisting of cruiser , U.S. Navy transport , and destroyers , , and . ''Montanan'' departed with her group on the morning of 17 June for Brest, France, steaming at an pace. A thwarted submarine attack on the first convoy group, and reports of heavy submarine activity off of Brest, resulted in a change in the convoy's destination to Saint-Nazaire where the convoy arrived 2 July.

''Montanan'' departed Saint-Nazaire on 14 July in the company of her convoy mates ''El Occidente'', ''Dakotan'', and ''Edward Luckenbach''. Joining the return trip were Army transport , Navy armed collier , Navy oiler , and cruiser , the flagship of Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves, the head of the Navy's Cruiser and Transport Force.

Sources do not reveal ''Montanan''s movements over the next months, but on 1 August 1918, ''Montanan'' sailed in Convoy HB-8 with U.S. Navy cargo ships , , and 13 others for France. Escorted by armed yacht , destroyers and , and French cruiser , the convoy was west of its destination of Le Verdon-sur-Mer by the end of the day on 15 August. At sundown, shortly before 18:00, German submarine launched three torpedoes at ''Montanan''.Crowell and Wilson, pp. 529–30.''U-90'' had sunk Navy transport in late May. The first two, spotted by lookouts aboard ''Montanan'', missed, but a third, unseen torpedo struck ''Montanan'' amidships on her port side, opening a large hole. ''Montanan'' began to settle and was abandoned quickly. Two of ''Montanan''s Naval Armed Guardsmen drowned when their lifeboat capsized in the heavy seas; three of her civilian crewmen also died in the attack. ''Montanan''s 81 survivors were rescued by convoy escort ''Noma''.

Shortly after ''Montanan'' was attacked, ''West Bridge'', which had previously developed engine trouble and was drifting, was torpedoed by and abandoned. By the morning of 16 August both ''Montanan'' and ''West Bridge'', with decks awash, were still afloat some apart. ''Montanan''s captain and several officers reboarded the ship the next morning for an attempt to get her under tow, but despite their efforts, the ship sank later that morning.In contrast, a work party from destroyer ''Smith'' was able to stabilize ''West Bridge'', and four tugs dispatched from Brest towed that ship safely into port. See:

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Montanan
Ships built in Sparrows Point, Maryland
Cargo ships of the United States
World War I merchant ships of the United States
World War I auxiliary ships of the United States
Transport ships of the United States Army
Ships sunk by German submarines in World War I
World War I shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean
1913 ships
Maritime incidents in 1918