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

Photo # NH 89407:  USS Houston at Charleston, S.C., 18 April 1918

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Houston (1917-1922, later AK-1).
Formerly the German Freighter Liebenfels

USS Houston, a 4525 gross ton cargo ship, was built in Germany in 1903 as the civilian freighter Liebenfels. When the August 1914 outbreak of World War I made the high seas unsafe for German merchant ships she was laid up at Charleston, South Carolina. Though her crew scuttled her as relations between Germany and the United States deteriorated in early 1917, Liebenfels was salvaged and refitted for U.S. Navy service.

Commissioned in early July 1917 as USS Houston, she took part in the vast effort to establish and maintain a large U.S. military force in Western Europe. Following the August 1918 Armistice the ship transported cargo between the East and West Coasts of the United States. In mid-1920, while so employed, she received the hull number AK-1. Houston voyaged from New York to the Philippines in May-October 1921, then steamed across the Pacific to San Francisco, California. She was decommissioned in March 1922 and sold in September of that year. Her name was changed to North King in 1923, while in commercial service, and she was not scrapped until about 1957.

This page features all the views we have related to USS Houston (1917-1922, later AK-1).

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 53580

USS Houston
(1917-1922, later AK-1)

At Charleston Navy Yard, South Carolina, 2 July 1917, following conversion from the ex-German freighter Liebenfels.
The station ship Hartford is in the distance, beyond Houston's bow.
Note man with bicycle at left.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 81KB; 740 x 520 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 89407

USS Houston
(left)

At Charleston, South Carolina, 18 April 1918, with Navy Coal Barge No. 213 alongside.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 51KB; 740 x 340 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 53577

SS Liebenfels
(ex-German Freighter, 1903)

In dry dock at the Charleston Navy Yard, South Carolina, while undergoing conversion for Naval service, 1 May 1917.
She was commissioned as USS Houston in early July 1917.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 105KB; 740 x 535 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 45245

Charleston Navy Yard, South Carolina


View from Pier 314 (reinforced concrete dock), looking inland on 1 May 1917.
The former German freighter Liebenfels is drydocked at left. She was commissioned as USS Houston in early July 1917.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 72KB; 740 x 600 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 53576

SS Liebenfels
(ex-German Freighter, 1903)

In dry dock at the Charleston Navy Yard, South Carolina, while undergoing conversion for Naval service, 6 May 1917.
She was commissioned as USS Houston in early July 1917.
Note dredge in the right distance, and timber stores in the foreground.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 122KB; 740 x 540 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 53578

SS Liebenfels
(ex-German Freighter, 1903)

In dry dock at the Charleston Navy Yard, South Carolina, on 1 May 1917, showing marine growth accumulated on her hull, propeller and rudder while she was inactive at Charleston following the outbreak of World War I in August 1914. The ship was in the drydock to undergo conversion for Naval service and was commissioned as USS Houston in early July 1917.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 119KB; 740 x 550 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 53579

SS Liebenfels
(ex-German Freighter, 1903)

In dry dock at the Charleston Navy Yard, South Carolina, on 1 May 1917, showing marine growth accumulated on her hull while she was inactive at Charleston following the outbreak of World War I in August 1914. The ship was in the drydock to be converted for Naval service and was commissioned as USS Houston in early July 1917.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 187KB; 740 x 540 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.

28 February 2003