USS Long Beach, a 5800-ton (displacement) cargo ship, was built at Sunderland, England, in 1892 as the British freighter Yarrowdale. Later renamed Nicolaos Castriotis, she became the German Hohenfelde in 1905. The ship took refuge at Savannah, Georgia, after the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 made the high seas dangerous for German shipping. She was seized when the United States entered the conflict in April 1917 and was turned over to the Navy a month later. Renamed Long Beach in June and refitted at the Charleston (S.C.) Navy Yard, she was given the registry ID # 2136 and was placed in commission in December 1917. Initially assigned to the Train, Special Service, she became a unit of the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS) when that force was created in January 1918 and was reassigned to its successor organization, the Naval Transportation Service, in July 1920.
Long Beach sailed in convoy from Norfolk to Queenstown, Ireland, in February 1918, and was then assigned to the Army coal trade, carrying coal from ports in the United Kingdom to France. While on this service she ran on the rocks near Brest, France, in a fog in April 1918. Refloated in May, she underwent repairs in drydock at Brest until November.
The ship remained in the Army coal trade until April 1919, when she sailed for Norfolk, Virginia, with a cargo of miscellaneous aviation material. After extensive repairs at Philadelphia, Long Beach carried coal to various points along the U.S. east coast and also carried supplies to Marine detachments in the West Indies. She was designated AK-9 when hull numbers were first assigned in July 1920. The ship was decommissioned at Boston, Mass., in April 1921, placed on the sale list in July 1921, and sold in May 1922. Initially registered in merchant service as S.S. Long Beach, she was renamed Golden Gate in 1924 and was scrapped in Italy in October of that year.
This page features the only view we have concerning USS Long Beach and S.S. Yarrowdale, Nicolaos Castriotis, Hohenfelde, Long Beach, and Golden Gate.
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NOTES:
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 12 October 2008
Edited and reposted 22 September 2009