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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORY AND HERITAGE COMMAND
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo # NH 45743:  USS Mount Vernon at anchor, 25 May 1918

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

USS Mount Vernon (ID # 4508), 1917-1919.
Formerly SS Kronprinzessen Cecilie (German Passenger Steamship, 1906).
Later U.S. Army Transport Mount Vernon

USS Mount Vernon, a 29,650-ton (19,503 gross ton) transport, was built at Stettin, Germany, in 1906 as the trans-Atlantic passenger liner Kronprinzessen Cecilie. Laid up in the United States during the first years of World War I, she was seized when the U.S. entered the conflict in 1917. She was turned over to the Navy, renamed Mount Vernon, and converted at Boston, Massachusetts, for troop carrying service. Initially assigned no registry number, she later received the ID number 4508.

Though placed in commission in late July 1917, shipyard work continued on Mount Vernon for a few more months. She began her first trip to France at the end of October 1917 and thereafter regularly carried American Military personnel to the war zone. On 5 September 1918, while steaming back to the U.S. after completing her ninth eastward-bound trooping voyage, Mount Vernon was torpedoed by the German submarine U-82. Repaired at Brest, France, and at Boston, she returned to service in February 1919, this time as part of the great effort to bring war veterans home. This work was largely completed by the summer of 1919 and USS Mount Vernon was placed out of commission in late September. Transferred to the War Department, she operated as the U.S. Army Transport Mount Vernon until the early 1920s. The ship was then laid up and remained inactive until scrapped in 1940.

This page features and provides links to all the views we have concerning USS Mount Vernon.

For additional images related to this ship, see:

  • USS Mount Vernon (ID # 4508) -- Torpedoed, 5 September 1918;
  • USS Mount Vernon (ID # 4508) -- Views on board the Ship;
  • USS Mount Vernon (ID # 4508) -- Miscellaneous Views;
  • Kronprinzessen Cecilie (German Passenger Steamship, 1906); and
  • Mount Vernon (U.S. Army Transport).


    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 98901

    USS Mount Vernon
    (1917-1919)

    At anchor in port, December 1917.

    Collection of Chief Warrant Officer James B. Dofflemeyer, USN.

    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

    Online Image: 62KB; 740 x 475 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 45742

    USS Mount Vernon
    (1917-1919)

    At Brest, France, 5 May 1918.

    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

    Online Image: 79KB; 740 x 515 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 45743

    USS Mount Vernon
    (1917-1919)

    At anchor, 25 May 1918.

    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

    Online Image: 75KB; 740 x 575 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 45747

    USS Mount Vernon
    (1917-1919)

    At the New York Navy Yard, 8 July 1918, after having been painted in pattern camouflage.

    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

    Online Image: 105KB; 740 x 605 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 45767

    USS Mount Vernon
    (1917-1919)

    Panoramic photograph of the ship's officers and crew, posed alongside and on board, 1918.

    Donation of James R. Nilo, 1961.

    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

    Online Image: 148KB; 1200 x 320 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 63146

    USS Mount Vernon
    (ID # 4508, 1917-1919)

    At Boston, Massachusetts, 7 February 1919.
    Photographed by Crosby, 11 Portland St., Boston.

    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

    Online Image: 72KB; 740 x 530 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 105818

    USS Mount Vernon
    (ID # 4508)

    In harbor, with an armored cruiser in the left distance, 1919.
    Photographed by Grassel.

    Donation of Charles R. Haberlein Jr., 2008.

    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

    Online Image: 65KB; 740 x 535 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 45751

    USS Mount Vernon
    (ID # 4508, 1917-1919)

    Coming up Boston Harbor with elements of the 26th Division on board, in 1919. She is convoyed by craft of the First Naval District.
    Photographed by Alton Blackinton, Boston.

    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

    Online Image: 70KB; 740 x 430 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 103934

    USS Mount Vernon
    (ID # 4508)

    Halftone reproduction of a heavily-retouched photograph taken circa 1917-1919.
    This image was published in 1918-1919 as one of ten photographs in a "Souvenir Folder" of views concerning the ship and her 5 September 1918 torpedoing.

    Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2006.

    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

    Online Image: 67KB; 740 x 510 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 93859

    U.S. Navy Troop Transports at sea, 10 November 1917


    These ships, steaming in convoy from New York City to Brest, France, are (from left to right): USS Mount Vernon (ID # 4508), USS Agamemnon (ID # 3004) and USS Von Steuben (ID # 3017).
    Note the damage to Von Steuben's bow, the result of a collision with Agamemnon on the previous day.

    Courtesy of Paul Silverstone, 1982.

    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

    Online Image: 77KB; 740 x 445 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 45750

    USS Mount Vernon
    (ID # 4508, 1917-1919)

    Coming up Boston Harbor in 1919, surrounded by small craft.
    Photographed by Alton Blackinton, Boston.

    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

    Online Image: 66KB; 740 x 440 pixels

     

    For additional images related to this ship, see:

  • USS Mount Vernon (ID # 4508) -- Torpedoed, 5 September 1918;
  • USS Mount Vernon (ID # 4508) -- Views on board the Ship;
  • USS Mount Vernon (ID # 4508) -- Miscellaneous Views;
  • Kronprinzessen Cecilie (German Passenger Steamship, 1906); and
  • Mount Vernon (U.S. Army Transport).


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


    Return to Naval History and Heritage Command home page.

    Page made 13 October 2003
    New image added 30 November 2008