West Humhaw, a 6087 gross ton (12,225-tons displacement) freighter, was built in 1918 at Seattle, Washington, as part of the First World War ship construction program. Transferred to the Navy when completed, she was placed in commission as USS West Humhaw (ID # 3718) in mid-September 1918. The ship steamed to the East Coast with a cargo of flour during October and in November crossed the Atlantic to France. West Humhaw returned to the United States in January 1919 and late in that month was decommissioned and returned to the U.S. Shipping Board.
For more than two decades thereafter West Humhaw operated commercially, based on both the Pacific and Atlantic Coasts. While serving with the American-West African Line on 8 November 1943, she was torpedoed and sunk in the Gulf of Guinea by the German submarine U-161. Everyone on board West Humhaw survived her loss.
This page features the only view we have concerning the freighter West Humhaw, which was USS West Humhaw (ID # 3718) 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.
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 29 October 2005