S.S. Sixaola, a 5017 gross ton refrigerated passenger-cargo ship, was built in 1911 at Belfast, Ireland. In September 1918 she was acquired by the Navy and placed in commission as USS Sixaola (ID # 2777) for service with the Naval Overseas Transportation Service. Later in the month she began a voyage to France with a cargo of beef and motor vehicles. Sixaola returned to the U.S. one day before the 11 November 1918 Armistice brought most World War I fighting to an end. She made a second round-trip to France in November and December and a third in January and February 1919. On 23 February, while loading for her next voyage, Sixaola caught fire at her New York pier. Two lives were lost in the accident, and the ship was left partially capsized and sunk.
Sixaola was raised a few months later and, in mid-June, decommissioned and transferred to the War Department. Following repairs, she was returned to her owners, the Carillo Steamship Company of New York. As part of the United Fruit Company's fleet, she continued commercial operation for more than two more decades. In April 1922 the Government's Joint Merchant Vessel Board changed her registry ID # from 2777 to 4525, but this appears to have been of bureaucratic significance only. On 12 June 1942, while off the coast of Panama, S.S. Sixaola was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-159. Of the 201 crewmen, passengers and Navy Armed Guardsmen on board, 29 were killed as a result of this attack.
This page features all the views we have concerning USS Sixaola (ID # 2777) and the commercial S.S. Sixaola of 1911.
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.
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 22 November 2005