Return to Naval Historical Center home page. Return to Online Library listing

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

Photo # NH 65051:  SS Western Star under tow, just after launching at Seattle, Washington, 4 July 1918


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

S.S. Western Star (American Freighter, 1918).
Served as USS Western Star (ID # 4210) in 1918-1919

S.S. Western Star, a 5550 gross ton (12,170 tons displacement) freighter built by J.F. Duthie and Company at Seattle, Washington as part of the World War I ship construction effort, was launched on 4 July 1918. Upon completion of her construction in late August of that year, she was turned over to the Navy and placed in commission as USS Western Star (ID # 4210). She made only one voyage as a unit of the Naval Overseas Transportation Service, steaming down the Pacific coast to Chile with a cargo of coal, which she exchanged for a load of nitrates destined for Savannah, Georgia. Late in 1918 Western Star went to Tompkinsville, New York, where she remained until decommissioned at the beginning of March 1919. Returned to the U.S. Shipping Board at that time, the ship remained under U.S. Government ownership until abandoned in 1933.

This page features the only view we have concerning the steamship Western Star, which served as USS Western Star (ID # 4210) 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 65051

S.S. Western Star
(American Freighter, 1918)

Under tow, immediately after launching at the J.F. Duthie and Company shipyard, Seattle, Washington, 4 July 1918.
Transferred to the Navy upon completion, this ship was placed in commission as USS Western Star (ID # 4210) on 28 August 1918 and returned to the U.S. Shipping Board on 1 March 1919.
Note her "dazzle" camouflage.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 47KB; 740 x 475 pixels

 


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


Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

Page made 12 September 2006