Northtown, a 2208 ton freighter, was built in 1901 at South Chicago, Illinois, for commercial employment. Converted to a tanker in 1903, she operated on the Great Lakes until 1906, then shifted her base to Port Arthur, Texas. The ship was lengthened in 1914, increasing her gross tonnage to 2826, and renamed Alabama. The Navy took her over in August 1918 and placed her in commission as USS Amabala (ID # 2185), a rather curious renaming made to avoid confusion with the battleship Alabama.
Assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service, Amabala steamed across the Atlantic in September 1918 to begin the important work of supplying fuel oil to U.S. warships based at Berehaven, Ireland. She continued in this duty until after the November Armistice ended active combat operations. At the beginning of December the tanker moved to Brest, France, where she fueled American ships until mid-month. Amabala then returned to the United States, arriving in early January 1919. She was decommissioned in late February and given back to her owner.
Her name changed back to Alabama, she had a long subsequent commercial career, under the U.S. flag until 1947 and thereafter under Venezuelan registry. The old tanker was scrapped at Baltimore, Maryland in 1950.
This page features the only views we have concerning the tanker Alabama (1901) and USS Amabala (ID # 2185).
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.
NOTES:
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 7 May 2004
New image added 30 November 2009