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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORY AND HERITAGE COMMAND
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Camden (ID # 3143, later AS-6 & IX-42), 1917-1946.
Originally S.S. Kiel (German Freighter, 1900)

S.S. Kiel, a 4494 gross ton freighter, was built in 1900 at Flensburg, Germany. In 1914 she took refuge in a U.S. port after the outbreak of World War I made the high seas unsafe for German commercial shipping. Seized when the United States entered the conflict in April 1917, she was turned over to the Navy in May of that year, refitted at the Charleston Navy Yard, South Carolina, and placed in commission in August as USS Camden (with registry ID # 3143 being assigned later). Between September 1917 and April 1918 she was mainly employed carrying coal between the British Isles and France, but also made trans-Atlantic voyages.

Camden was decommissioned early in May 1918 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, and began conversion to a submarine tender. She returned to commissioned service in February 1919 and was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet Submarine Flotilla as flagship and tender. In July 1920, when the Navy formally implemented its hull number system, she was designated AS-6. From 1921 to 1923 Camden tended submarines on the West Coast, then returned to the Atlantic and Caribbean areas to perform the same service. She was refitted with a single smokestack (replacing her original two funnels) in the mid-1920s and continued on active duty until May 1931, when she was again decommissioned at Philadelphia.

In September 1940 Camden was redesignated IX-42 and towed to New York, where she was used as a floating barracks to house some of the great number of Sailors stationed at the Navy Yard and other local facilities. No longer needed after the end of the conflict, USS Camden was sold in October 1946.

This page features all the views we have concerning USS Camden in 1917, and provides links to later images related to her after conversion to a submarine tender.

For more images related to this ship, see:

USS Camden (ID # 3143, later AS-6) -- After her 1918-1919 conversion to a Submarine Tender;

USS Camden (ID # 3143, later AS-6) -- After her 1918-1919 conversion to a Submarine Tender (part II); and

USS Camden (AS-6, later IX-42) -- Views taken circa the mid-1920s and later.

If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 55042 USS Camden (ID # 3143, later AS-6)) At the Charleston Navy Yard, South Carolina, 11 June 1917, while under conversion from the German cargo steamship Kiel. USS Reposo II (SP-198) is tied up on the near side of the pier. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Online Image: 73KB; 740 x 510 pixels
Photo #: NH 55043 USS Camden (ID # 3143, later AS-6)) At the Charleston Navy Yard, South Carolina, 11 June 1917, while being converted from the German cargo steamship Kiel. USS Reposo II (SP-198) is on the near side of the pier. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Online Image: 76KB; 740 x 520 pixels
Photo #: NH 55041 USS Camden (ID # 3143) At the Charleston Navy Yard, South Carolina, 23 August 1917. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Online Image: 102KB; 740 x 555 pixels
Photo #: NH 55039 USS Camden (ID # 3143) Anchored off the Charleston Navy Yard, South Carolina, 23 August 1917. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Online Image: 67KB; 740 x 465 pixels
Photo #: NH 55040 USS Camden (ID # 3143) Off the Charleston Navy Yard, South Carolina, on 23 August 1917. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Online Image: 62KB; 740 x 535 pixels

For more images related to this ship, see:

USS Camden (ID # 3143, later AS-6) -- After her 1918-1919 conversion to a Submarine Tender;

USS Camden (ID # 3143, later AS-6) -- After her 1918-1919 conversion to a Submarine Tender (part II); and

USS Camden (AS-6, later IX-42) -- Views taken circa the mid-1920s and later.

NOTES:

To the best of our knowledge, the pictures referenced here are all in the Public Domain, and can therefore be freely downloaded and used for any purpose.

Some images linked from this page may bear obsolete credit lines citing the organization name: "Naval Historical Center". Effective 1 December 2008 the name should be cited as: "Naval History and Heritage Command".

If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Return to Naval History and Heritage Command home page.

Page made 30 December 2004
Coding updated 23 April 2009