USS Rappahannock, a 17,000-ton (displacement) cargo and store ship, was built in Vegesack, Germany, in 1913 as the 6557 gross ton commercial freighter Pommern. Owned by the North German Lloyd shipping line, she sought refuge in a neutral U.S. port upon the outbreak of World War I and was seized when the United States entered the conflict in April 1917. Renamed Rappahannock and given registry ID # 1854, she was delivered to the Navy and commissined in December 1917. During the next year, the ship was employed by the Naval Overseas Transportation Service, making four voyages across the Atlantic in support of wartime operations, plus an additional round-trip between the U.S. and Europe in 1919.
Rappahannock was inactive at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine, for nearly two years beginning in mid-1919. She was classified as a store ship in July 1920 and designated AF-6. Returned to active service in June 1922, she supported the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets until placed out of commission in December 1924. Rappahannock was sold in October 1933, after being laid up at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, for more than seven years. Subsequently renamed William Luckenbach, the steamer operated commercially under the U.S. Flag until 1946, when she was sold to a Italian shipping firm and renamed Maria C.. Following a four-decade long civilian and Naval career, she was scrapped in 1953.
This page features all the views we have concerning USS Rappahannock (ID # 1854, later AF-6).
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.
USS Rappahannock (AF-6) is seen in the left background of the following photograph:
The ship seen in the foreground of the following photograph closely resembles USS Rappahannock in all visible details, and may well be her:
NOTES:
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 6 November 2007
New image added 8 January 2009