Norlina, a 4596 gross ton freighter, was built in West Hartlepool, England in 1909 as the British S.S. Harfleur. She was transferred to American registry and renamed Georgiana in 1915. In the following year she changed American owners and became Norlina. On 4 June 1917 S.S. Norlina fought off an attack by a German U-boat, reportedly U-88.
The freighter was commissioned in the Navy at Baltimore, Maryland, in early May 1918 as USS Norlina (ID # 1597). After loading a shipment of Army supplies at Baltimore, she bunkered at Norfolk and then joined a transatlantic convoy at New York in late May. The ship unloaded her cargo at Le Havre in June and returned to Baltimore in July. Between August and December she carried out two similar voyages, delivering Army supplies to Bordeaux and Nantes, France. In late December 1918 Norlina sailed from Norfolk for Chile with a cargo of coal. In Chile the ship exchanged the coal for a load of nitrates and copper ore, which she delivered at Charleston, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia in March and April 1919. USS Norlina (ID # 1597) was decommissioned in May 1919 and delivered to the U.S. Shipping Board for simultaneous return to her owners, the Garland Steamship Company of New York City. In August 1926 S.S. Norlina was wrecked off Salt Point, California, where her remains are now an attraction for divers.
This page features the only view we have concerning S.S. Norlina, Harfleur, Georgiana and USS Norlina (ID # 1597).
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.
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 9 December 2007