The second USS ''Hatteras'' was a Cunard Line freighter acquired by the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and was used to transport men and war materials to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. Post-war she was returned to the

U.S. Shipping Board The United States Shipping Board (USSB) was established as an emergency agency by the 1916 Shipping Act (39 Stat. 729), on September 7, 1916. The United States Shipping Board's task was to increase the number of US ships supporting the World War ...

as redundant to needs.

Service history

left, Probably photographed in 1919, after World War I Navy service as USS ''Hatteras'' (ID # 2142). The ship appears to be loaded, with worn paintwork and an empty gun platform forward The second U.S. Navy ship to be named ''Hatteras'' was built in 1917 for the Cunard Line by the

Bethlehem Shipbuilding Bethlehem Steel Corporation Shipbuilding Division was created in 1905 when the Bethlehem Steel Corporation of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, acquired the San Francisco shipyard Union Iron Works. In 1917 it was incorporated as Bethlehem Shipbuilding Co ...

Corp. of

Sparrows Point, Maryland Sparrow's Point is an unincorporated community in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States, adjacent to Dundalk. Named after Thomas Sparrow, landowner, it was the site of a very large industrial complex owned by Bethlehem Steel, known for steelm ...

. Acquired by the

for the war effort, she commissioned 23 October 1917. After loading cargo, mainly iron, in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, ''Hatteras'' joined a

convoy A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...

at Norfolk, Virginia, and sailed for France on 26 January 1918. On 4 February the convoy ran into a severe North

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

storm, and ''Hatteras steering gear broke down completely. The disabled ship headed back to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Massachusetts, using a jury-rigged steering system arriving 11 days later. On 6 March she sailed again for France via

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348 ...

, but 11 days later ran into another severe storm, and, once again, broken steering gear forced her to turn back to Boston. On 9 April ''Hatteras'' sailed for France for the third time, this time through relatively calm seas, and arrived in Nantes on the 30th. Cargo successfully discharged, she returned to Baltimore on 23 May. Thereafter she made four more Atlantic crossings, one to Nantes and three to

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...

, finally returning to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

19 March 1919. ''Hatteras'' decommissioned there on 8 April 1919 and the same day was returned to the

United States Shipping Board The United States Shipping Board (USSB) was established as an emergency agency by the 1916 Shipping Act (39 Stat. 729), on September 7, 1916. The United States Shipping Board's task was to increase the number of US ships supporting the World War ...

(USSB), which retained her until she was abandoned at Shanghai in 1938. Taken into private ownership and renamed ''Hatterlock'', she was subsequently seized by Japan in 1941 and operated by Miyachi Kisen KK of Kobe as ''Renzan Maru''. It was under this name that she was torpedoed and sunk on 1 January 1943 by off

Yap Yap ( yap, Waqaab) traditionally refers to an island group located in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, a part of Yap State. The name "Yap" in recent years has come to also refer to the state within the Federated States of Micr ...

References

External links

USS Hatteras (ID # 2142), 1917-1919

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hatteras Ships built in Sparrows Point, Maryland 1917 ships Standard World War I ships Steamships of the United States Cargo ships of the United States Navy World War I cargo ships of the United States World War I auxiliary ships of the United States