USS Celtic, a 6750-ton (displacement) storeship, was built at Belfast, Ireland, in 1891 as the merchant ship Celtic King. She was purchased by the U.S. Navy in May 1898, placed in commission as USS Celtic for service in the Spanish-American War and between June and September 1898 carried fresh provisions and other supplies to U.S. Navy units in Cuban and Floridian waters. In October 1898 Celtic departed the New York Navy Yard for the Pacific, where she served as a storeship in the Far East during and after the Philippine Insurrection. Out of commission at Puget Sound Navy Yard, Washington, between September 1903 and October 1905, the ship returned to the East Coast in 1906 and served with the Atlantic Fleet for a year until decommissioned again in February 1907.
Celtic recommissioned at the Boston Navy Yard in October 1908, then operated as a unit of the Train, Atlantic Fleet, carrying stores and supplies between the U. S. East Coast and forces in the Caribbean. She also assisted in relief operations in earthquake-stricken Italian island of Sicily in 1909 and, in 1914, served as a key supply ship for the Veracruz operation . In mid-1917, following U.S. entry into World War I, she took supplies from New York to American bases at Queenstown, Ireland, and Brest, France. Celtic was assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service in July 1918 as a replacement for USS Bridge, and made two voyages to England and one to the Mediterranean. The ship was transferred to the Pacific Fleet in June 1919 and operated off the West Coast between September 1919 and March 1921. Celtic was then assigned duty as station ship at Guam but remained there only a short time, departing for the Cavite Navy Yard, Philippines, in May 1922. Decommissioned at Cavite in June 1922 and sold in January 1923, she returned to merchant service as S.S. Celtic. The old ship was scrapped at Osaka, Japan, in 1929.
This page features the only views we have concerning USS Celtic and S.S. Celtic King and Celtic.
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If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 30 April 2008
New image added 8 May 2008