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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
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WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo # NH 105245: S.S. Ice King at Goteborg, Sweden, in September 1919

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

USS Ice King (ID # 3160), 1918-1919.
Previously S.S. War Unit, Passaic and Ice King (American Refrigerated Cargo Ship, 1918). Later S.S. Ice King, Georgian, and Hilton

Ice King, a 4715 gross ton (10,562 tons displacement) refrigerated cargo ship, was built at Shooters Island, New York, as part of the World War I shipbuilding effort. Ordered by the British as War Unit, she was requisitioned by the U.S. Shipping Board and renamed Passaic while under construction. The ship was taken over by the Navy at New York on 2 July and commissioned on 5 July 1918. Around this time she was renamed Ice King, probably by the Navy to avoid confusion with a tug named Passaic (later designated YT-20) that was already on the Navy List. USS Ice King departed Halifax, Nova Scotia on 18 July 1918 and arrived at Bordeaux, France, on 5 August with a cargo of over 2,500 tons of frozen beef, 200 tons of general cargo, and 20 trucks. Between September 1918 and May 1919 she made four more round trip voyages between the United States and France, loading up to 3,000 tons frozen beef at Hoboken, New Jersey for the eastbound voyage and returning with smaller Army return cargoes, including ammunition. She was twice delayed in French ports, once by a shortage of refrigerated railcars and once by port congestion. USS Ice King was decommissioned and returned to the Shipping Board at New York on 26 May 1919.

As S.S. Ice King, the ship began commercial service later in 1919 while owned by the Shipping Board, with port calls including Hoek van Holland in August and Goteborg, Sweden in September 1919. In 1920 the Shipping Board transferred her to the French American Line of New York, but this arrangement was short lived. Before the end of the year she was back in Shipping Board hands, where she remained until she was sold and renamed Georgian in 1928. Renamed Hilton in 1936, she was finally scrapped at Wilmington, Delaware, in 1951.

This page features all of the views we have concerning USS Ice King (ID # 3160) and the civilian refrigerated cargo ship Ice King (previously Passaic, later Georgian and Hilton) of 1918.


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 105229

USS Ice King
(ID # 3160)

This refrigerated cargo ship wearing pattern camouflage was probably photographed around 19 June 1918 when she was delivered to the U.S. Shipping Board as S.S. Passaic or around 3 July 1918 when she was commissioned by the Navy as USS Ice King. She was decommissioned on 26 May 1919.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 49KB; 740 x 285 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 105246

S.S. Ice King
(American Freighter, 1918)

In commercial service at Hoek van Holland, The Netherlands, in August 1919.
Originally named S.S. Passaic, this refrigerated cargo ship served as USS Ice King (ID # 3160) from July 1918 to May 1919.

Donation of Captain Stephen S. Roberts, USNR (Retired), 2007.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 54KB; 740 x 460 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 105245

S.S. Ice King
(American Freighter, 1918)

In commercial service at Goteborg, Sweden, in September 1919.
Originally named S.S. Passaic, this refrigerated cargo ship served as USS Ice King (ID # 3160) from July 1918 to May 1919.

Donation of Captain Stephen S. Roberts, USNR (Retired), 2007.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 69KB; 740 x 460 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 105247

S.S. Ice King
(American Freighter, 1918)

Passengers and a junior naval officer standing at a railing at the rear of the ship's pilot house circa August-September 1919.
One of the passengers is holding a megaphone. Note the life buoys showing the ship's port of registry and the small searchlight on the top of the pilot house.

Donation of Captain Stephen S. Roberts, USNR (Retired), 2007.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 67KB; 430 x 765 pixels

 


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


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Page made 11 September 2007