USS ''Nanshan'' (AG-3) was a collier in the service of 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 ...

. ''Nanshan'' was launched in 1896 by

Grangemouth Dockyard Company The Grangemouth Dockyard Company was a British shipbuilding and ship repair firm located at Grangemouth, on the Firth of Forth, Scotland. History The company was established in Grangemouth by William Miller and Samuel Popham Jackson in 1885. was ...

Grangemouth Grangemouth ( sco, Grangemooth; gd, Inbhir Ghrainnse, ) is a town in the Falkirk council area, Scotland. Historically part of the county of Stirlingshire, the town lies in the Forth Valley, on the banks of the Firth of Forth, east of Falkirk ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

for merchant service as a collier in the Far East; purchased at

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

on 6 April 1898 from Frank Smythe; and placed in service the same day,

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

E. H. Stovell of the British Marine Service in command.

Service history

Acquired by the Navy as a supply ship for

Commodore Commodore may refer to: Ranks * Commodore (rank), a naval rank ** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom ** Commodore (United States) ** Commodore (Canada) ** Commodore (Finland) ** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore'' * Air commodore, a ...

George Dewey George Dewey (December 26, 1837January 16, 1917) was Admiral of the Navy, the only person in United States history to have attained that rank. He is best known for his victory at the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish–American War, with ...

Asiatic Squadron The Asiatic Squadron was a squadron of United States Navy warships stationed in East Asia during the latter half of the 19th century. It was created in 1868 when the East India Squadron was disbanded. Vessels of the squadron were primarily invo ...

, ''Nanshan'' sailed from Hong Kong on 24 April 1898 with the squadron, remaining outside the harbor during the

Battle of Manila Bay The Battle of Manila Bay ( fil, Labanan sa Look ng Maynila; es, Batalla de Bahía de Manila), also known as the Battle of Cavite, took place on 1 May 1898, during the Spanish–American War. The American Asiatic Squadron under Commodore ...

on 1 May. At the time of the battle, she was commanded by Lieutenant Benjamin W. Hodges, USN but retained her civilian crew. Despite orders to the contrary, Dewey did not commission ''Nanshan'' into the U.S. Navy so she would technically be a merchant ship and, thus, would be able to access neutral ports which greatly simplified the squadron's logistics. She coaled Dewey's victorious ships until

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

was occupied on 13 August, and continued to serve in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

and on the

China Station The Commander-in-Chief, China was the admiral in command of what was usually known as the China Station, at once both a British Royal Navy naval formation and its admiral in command. It was created in 1865 and deactivated in 1941. From 1831 to 18 ...

. Aside from a brief period out of service at

Cavite Navy Yard Cavite, officially the Province of Cavite ( tl, Lalawigan ng Kabite; Chavacano: ''Provincia de Cavite''), is a province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region in Luzon. Located on the southern shores of Manila Bay and southwest o ...

for upkeep from 29 March 1906 – 1 February 1907, ''Nanshan'' served in the Far East until 10 May 1913, when she returned to San Francisco to coal ships along the coasts of California, Mexico, and South America. Placed out of service at

Mare Island Naval Shipyard The Mare Island Naval Shipyard (MINSY) was the first United States Navy base established on the Pacific Ocean. It is located northeast of San Francisco in Vallejo, California. The Napa River goes through the Mare Island Strait and separates th ...

on 31 March 1914 for repairs, ''Nanshan'' was placed in full commission on 1 August with her first Navy crew. Supply missions ranging from Alaska to Hawaii continued until 1 February 1918, when she sailed for

Hampton Roads, Virginia Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James, Nansemond and Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point where the Chesapeake Bay flows into the Atlantic O ...

, via the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit ...

. This cargo trip ended with her return to Mare Island on 16 May when she resumed her usual operations, which included in July 1919 an emergency mission to

Kodiak, Alaska Kodiak (Alutiiq: , russian: Кадьяк), formerly Paul's Harbor, is the main city and one of seven communities on Kodiak Island in Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska. All commercial transportation between the island's communities and the outside wo ...

and the

Pribilof Islands The Pribilof Islands (formerly the Northern Fur Seal Islands; ale, Amiq, russian: Острова Прибылова, Ostrova Pribylova) are a group of four volcanic islands off the coast of mainland Alaska, in the Bering Sea, about north of ...

bringing badly needed food. From 5 December 1919 – 3 December 1921, ''Nanshan'' served as a target repair ship. She decommissioned at Mare Island on 18 January 1922 and was sold on 29 July to John A. Bercovich Co. In Chinese, "''Nanshan''" means "south mountain" and refers to a small group of mountains in

Guangdong Province Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

. The ship retained her former name in naval service.

References

External links

Naval Historical Center: USS ''Nanshan''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nanshan Ships built in Scotland 1896 ships Colliers of the United States Navy World War I auxiliary ships of the United States