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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo #  NH 102368:  SS West Alsek on trials, 4 June 1918


Online Library of Selected Images:
-- CIVILIAN SHIPS --

West Alsek (American Freighter, 1918).
Served as USS West Alsek (ID # 3119) in 1918-1919

West Alsek, a 5573.93 gross ton freighter, was built at Seattle, Washington, as part of the World War I merchant ship construction effort. She was taken over by the Navy upon completion in early June 1918 and immediately placed in commission as USS West Alsek (ID # 3119). Assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service, the new ship carried a cargo of flour to New York on her first voyage. At the beginning of August she sailed in convoy for France, where she discharged cargo to support Allied forces on the Western Front. West Alsek made a second voyage to France in October and November 1918 and returned to the United State in mid-January 1919, two months after the fighting had ended. She was decommissioned late in that month and returned to the U.S. Shipping Board. SS West Alsek was abandoned in 1933.

This page features the only view we have concerning the freighter West Alsek, which served as USS West Alsek (ID # 3119) in 1918-1919.


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 102368

SS West Alsek
(American Freighter, 1918)

Underway during builder's trials, off Seattle, Washington, on 4 June 1918, while painted in pattern camouflage.
Built in 78 working days by the Skinner & Eddy Corporation, of Seattle, this steamship was acquired by the Navy on the day of her trials and placed in commission as USS West Alsek (ID # 3119). She was returned to the U.S. Shipping Board on 27 January 1919.

The original print is in National Archives' Record Group 19-LCM.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 78KB; 740 x 535 pixels

 


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


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Page made 14 March 2004