USS Newport News, a 3537 gross ton (approximately 10,000 tons displacement) cargo ship, was built at Flensburg, Germany, in 1904 as the Danish freighter St. Jan. The German Hamburg-Amerika line bought her in 1907 and renamed her Odenwald. A few days after World War I began in August 1914 she helped the German cruiser Karlsruhe embark 550 tons of coal and some reservists while in port at San Juan, Puerto Rico. In March 1915 Odenwald attempted to depart San Juan without clearance papers, probably to provide coal and supplies to the raider Kronprinz Wilhelm (later USS Von Steuben), but was driven back to her anchorage by gunfire from the Morro Castle. Seized when the United States entered World War I in April 1917, she was turned over to the Navy a month later. The ship was renamed Newport News in June, refitted at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and placed in commission in July 1917.
Newport News entered service as a transatlantic cargo carrier and was assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS) when it was was established in January 1918. Detached from NOTS in June 1919, she immediately proceeding to the Pacific, where she carried out supply voyages, primarily to the Far East. Newport News was classified as a cargo ship (AK-3) when hull numbers were first assigned to Navy ships in July 1920. In 1921 her authorized passenger capacity was set at four first-class passengers and 125 troops. USS Newport News was decommissioned at Puget Sound, Washington and stricken from the Navy List in August 1924. Sold in 1925, she became the merchant ship Arctic and was scrapped in 1937.
This page features all the views we have concerning USS Newport News and S.S. Odenwald.
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
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Photo #: 19-N-10398 USS Newport News (1917-1925) At the Philadelphia Navy Yard in June 1918. This ship, formerly the German Odenwald, was seized in 1917. She was classified AK-3 in 1920. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 65KB; 740 x 510 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: NH 84673 USS Newport News (1917-1925, later AK-3) Photographed in San Francisco Bay, California, circa 1919. The ship served in the Pacific from August 1919 until she was decommissioned in August 1924. Courtesy Donald M. McPherson, 1976. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Online Image: 62KB; 740 x 485 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 67755 USS Newport News (AK-3) Waiting off Wake Island on 24 September 1922, prior to putting ashore a large cache of fresh water and provisions for use in the event of a ship wreck there. This mission occurred during a period in which few ships passed Wake Island. Received from the U.S. Naval Library, Treasure Island Naval Station, California, 1969. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Online Image: 63KB; 740 x 485 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 45128 USS Newport News (AK-3), with USS Undaunted (AT-58) alongside Probably in San Francisco Bay, California, circa the early 1920s. Photograph was received from the Office of Naval Intelligence, 1936. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Online Image: 53KB; 740 x 445 pixels |
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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
Text edited and coding updated 13 January 2009