USS ''Jean'' (ID-1308) was a cargo ship that served in the

United States 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 ...

from 1918 to 1919.

Construction and service, 1909–1918

''Jean'' was built as the depot collier SS ''Jean'' in 1909 at Newport News, Virginia, by Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company. The

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

took control of her at Newport News in September 1917 for

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

service under a bareboat charter from her owner, A. H. Bull Steamship Company of New York City. She operated for the Army with a civilian crew, probably in European waters, before returning in August 1918 to Newport News, where she was transferred 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 ...

on a U.S. Army account.

United States Navy service, 1918–1919

The U.S. Navy had inspected ''Jean'' in 1917 for possible naval service, and acquired her from the Shipping Board for World War I service on 30 August 1918. Assigned Identification Number (Id. No.) 1308, she was commissioned the same day as USS ''Jean''. Assigned to the 5th Naval District under the control of the Naval Overseas Transportation Service, ''Jean'' operated on a bareboat charter from A. H. Bull Steamship Company. She took aboard 2,181

ton Ton is the name of any one of several units of measure. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses. Mainly it describes units of weight. Confusion can arise because ''ton'' can mean * the long ton, which is 2,240 pounds ...

s of general cargo at

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nor ...

, Virginia, and departed on 30 September 1918 for

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...

, Nova Scotia, Canada, to join an

Atlantic 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 ...

convoy of American and British ships which departed 7 October 1918 for

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 prefectu ...

, France. She was diverted to Brest, France, where she arrived on 21 October 1918 with supplies for war-ravaged Europe. Steaming from Brest on 22 October 1918, ''Jean'' visited the ports of La Pallice,

, and Le Verdon-sur-Mer. She sailed out of Verdon harbor on 3 November 1918 and arrived at Newport News on 24 November 1918. During this voyage, World War I ended on 11 November 1918. ''Jean'' refueled, loaded 3,164 tons of cargo, and departed on 30 December 1918 for

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, Brazil, via Barbados. She arrived at Rio de Janeiro on 27 January 1919, exchanged her cargo of coal for

coffee bean A coffee bean is a seed of the '' Coffea'' plant and the source for coffee. It is the pip inside the red or purple fruit often referred to as a coffee cherry. Just like ordinary cherries, the coffee fruit is also a so-called stone fruit. Even th ...

s, and departed for New York City via Santos, Brazil. She arrived at New York on 20 March 1919 and discharged her cargo. ''Jean'' was decommissioned on 15 April 1919 at Hoboken, New Jersey. She was transferred to the Shipping Board that day for simultaneous return to the A. H. Bull Steamship Company.

Later career, 1919–1954

''Jean'' returned to commercial service as SS ''Jean''. She was renamed SS ''Margarita Calafati'' in 1926, SS ''Gladstone'' in 1927, and, under the Latvian

flag A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design empl ...

, SS ''Sports'' in 1928. ''Sports'' came under Soviet control when the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

occupied Latvia in June 1940, and was nationalized and assigned to the Soviet Unions Latvian State Sea Shipping Company on 29 October 1940. ''Sports'' was in port at Danzig, Germany, on 22 June 1941, the day that Germany declared war on the Soviet Union. Germany seized her that day and placed her under the German flag as SS ''Magdalena''. After the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, ''Magdalena'' was transferred to the United Kingdom as a war reparation. Once again named SS ''Sports'' in 1947, the ship later was transferred to the Panamanian flag and remained in commercial service until scrapped in 1954.

References

*
Department of the Navy: Naval Historical Center Online Library of Selected Images: Civilian Ships: S.S. ''Jean'' (American Freighter, 1909) Served as USS ''Jean'' (ID # 1308) in 1918–1919. Later S.S. ''Margarita Calafati'', ''Gladstone'', ''Sports'', and ''Magdalena''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jean (ID-1308) World War I cargo ships of the United States 1909 ships Cargo ships of the United States Navy Ships built in Newport News, Virginia