USS Canonicus, a 7360-ton (displacement) minelayer, was built at Newport News, Virginia, in 1899 as the 4665 gross ton commercial passenger-cargo ship El Cid. She was acquired by the Navy in December 1917 and converted at Brooklyn, New York. Renamed Canonicus, the minelayer was placed in commission in March 1918 and in May steamed across the Atlantic to Inverness, Scotland. During the summer and fall of 1918 she participated in laying the North Sea mine barrage, an anti-submarine barrier intended to limit the German U-Boat threat.
Canonicus returned to the U.S. at the beginning of 1919, less than two months after the end of World War I's fighting. Reconverted to a troop transport and transferred to the Cruiser and Transport Force, she made three voyages from France to the East Coast, bringing home more than four-thousand veterans of the "Great War". USS Canonicus was decommissioned in early August 1919 and turned over to the U.S. Shipping Board for return to her owner, the Southern Pacific Steamship Company.
This page features all the views we have concerning USS Canonicus (ID # 1696).
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 85034 USS Canonicus (ID # 1696) Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken in British waters, 1918. Note her pattern camouflage scheme. Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1976. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Online Image: 114KB; 740 x 510 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 102942 USS Canonicus (ID # 1696) In a U.S. East Coast port, while employed as a troop transport in 1919. The original photograph is printed on postal card ("AZO") stock. Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2005. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Online Image: 77KB; 740 x 470 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 105866 USS Canonicus (ID # 1696) In port in 1919, while serving as a transport. Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2008. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Online Image: 99KB; 740 x 535 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 105423 USS Canonicus (ID # 1696) In harbor in 1919, while employed as a troop transport. Printed on postcard ("AZO") stock. See Photo # NH 105423-A for a reproduction of the reverse of the original postcard, featuring typed data on Private Enoch Bleichley, of the 352nd Regiment, who may have been a passenger on this ship. Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2007. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Online Image: 52KB; 740 x 465 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 106362 USS Canonicus (ID # 1696) Arriving off Newport News, Virginia, with homeward bound troops from France, 10 July 1919. Panoramic photograph by Holladay, Newport News. The harbor tug Maren Lee is assisting Canonicus. Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2008. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Online Image: 136KB; 2000 x 510 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 51900 USS Canonicus (ID # 1696) Ship's officers and crew, photographed at Invergordan, Scotland, in October 1918. Her Commanding Officer, Captain Thomas L. Johnson, is seated in the center of the front row. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Online Image: 105KB; 740 x 530 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 52819 Mine Squadron One, U.S. Atlantic Fleet Senior officers of the squadron, photographed on board ship in the North Sea area, September 1918. Those present are identified in Photo # NH 52819 (complete caption). U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Online Image: 96KB; 740 x 430 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 52995 Mine Squadron One, U.S. Atlantic Fleet Senior officers of the squadron, photographed on board ship in the North Sea area, September 1918. Those present are identified in Photo # NH 52995 (complete caption). U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Online Image: 88KB; 740 x 495 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 53575 USS Canandaigua (ID# 1694); USS Roanoke (ID # 1695); USS Canonicus (ID # 1696); and USS Housatonic (ID # 1697) Sketch of "Rearrangement of Steering Gear" on ships' bridges, made at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia, 23 April 1918. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Online Image: 81KB; 590 x 765 pixels |
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USS Canonicus is seen distantly in the following Photograph:
USS Canonicus was present when the following Photograph was taken, but is out of the view to the right:
Photo #: 111-SC-43563 Laying the North Sea Mine Barrage, 1918 U.S. Navy minelayers proceeding to sea in two columns, in Area Number 2 of the North Sea, September 1918. Ships in the column at left are (from front to rear): Roanoke, Housatonic, Quinnebaug and Baltimore. Ships in column at right are (from front to rear): Canonicus (out of picture, to right), Canandaigua, Aroostook and Saranac. Note disruptive "dazzle" camouflage worn by these ships. Photograph from the Army Signal Corps Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 59KB; 740 x 460 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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The ships seen in the following photographs MAY include USS Canonicus:
NOTES:
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 29 September 2004
New image added 18 October 2010