Virginia, a 1606 gross ton passenger steamship, was built at Cleveland, Ohio, in 1891. For more than two and a half decades she operated on the Great Lakes, primarily between Chicago, Illinois, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The U.S. Navy purchased her in May 1918, renamed her Blue Ridge and placed her in commission in mid-October. With her bow removed to allow her to transit the Welland Canal, the ship left the Lakes and went to the Boston Navy Yard for outfitting as a coastal troop transport. This work was not completed before the need for her had ended, and Blue Ridge remained at Boston until August 1919, when she was renamed Avalon and sold. Retaining the latter name in civilian service, she was taken to the West Coast and employed on passenger service between Los Angeles and Catalina Island, California. Avalon was sold for scrapping in 1964 but sank while under tow off the California coast on 16 September of that year.
This page features all the views we have concerning USS Blue Ridge (ID # 2432) and the civilian passenger steamship Virginia (later Avalon) .
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.
NOTES:
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 25 September 2003
New image added 16 February 2009