West Indian, a 12,100-ton (displacement) freighter built in 1918 at Portland, Oregon, was turned over to the Navy and placed in commission as USS West Indian (ID # 3120) in May of that year. Like many ships of the World War I emergency building programs, she suffered from chronic mechanical problems, and, in September was returned to the U.S. Shipping board for repairs. Once these were completed, West Indian steamed to the Atlantic Coast, where she was again commissioned as a Naval vessel in early November 1918. She soon began her only operational voyage while in Navy hands, arriving in England in mid-December. Upon her return to the U.S. in February 1919 West Indian was decommissioned and, at the beginning of March, transferred back to the Shipping Board, which retained ownership until the end of the 1930s.
This page features our only view of the freighter West Indian, which was USS West Indian (ID # 3120) 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 16 June 2004