The second USS ''Hatteras'' was a
Cunard Line
Cunard () is a British shipping and cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its three ships have been registered in Hamilton, Berm ...
freighter acquired by the
U.S. Navy during
World War I and was used to transport men and war materials to
France. 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
Cunard () is a British shipping and cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its three ships have been registered in Hamilton, Berm ...
by the
Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp. of
Sparrows Point, Maryland. Acquired by the
U.S. Navy for the war effort, she commissioned 23 October 1917. After loading cargo, mainly iron, in
Maryland, ''Hatteras'' joined a
convoy at
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...
, and sailed for France on 26 January 1918. On 4 February the convoy ran into a severe North
Atlantic Ocean storm, and ''Hatteras steering gear broke down completely. The disabled ship headed back to
Boston, Massachusetts, using a jury-rigged steering system arriving 11 days later.
On 6 March she sailed again for France via
Halifax, Nova Scotia, 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
Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...
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, finally returning to
New York City 19 March 1919.
''Hatteras'' decommissioned there on 8 April 1919 and the same day was returned to the
United States Shipping Board (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.
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