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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo # NH 41893:  German passenger liner President Lincoln underway, prior to World War I

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIP TYPES --

WORLD WAR I ERA TRANSPORTS --
with One Smokestack and Five or Six Masts

Two rather distinctive single-stack WWI era U.S. Navy transports carried six masts, one of them serving a cargo hold between the navigation bridge and the bulk of their superstructure. Built to identical design for the German immigrant trade, President Grant and President Lincoln were seized by the U.S. Government in 1917 and soon entered U.S. Navy service. One was torpedoed and sunk at the end of May 1918, while the other served into the autumn of 1919.

Artemis, a much smaller ship, had five masts in addition to her smokestack. She was of similar configuration to the six-masters, possibly reflecting her origins at Belfast's Harland & Wolff shipyard, which constructed all three. Also a former German ship, she was a U.S. Army transport from mid-1917 through early 1919, then was transferred to the Navy. Though presented here on the basis of mast configuration and previous transport use, Artemis' relatively short midships superstructure makes her appear rather more like a large freighter than a passenger ship.

This page features a table (with links to individual ships) of World War I era U.S. Navy transports with one smokestack and five or six masts, plus a photograph of each ship in this group.


Click each ship name to access that ship's complete Online Library entry.

Click the small photographs to prompt a larger view of the same image, and the words "Picture Data" to access the Picture Data Sheet for that image.


Ships in this group:

TWO SHIPS -- ONE SMOKESTACK and SIX MASTS:

  • President Grant, USN 1917-1919 (ex-German S.S. President Grant, 1907).
    18,072 Gross Tons; Length: 599.0'; Breadth: 68.2'
  • President Lincoln, USN 1917-1918 (ex-German S.S. President Lincoln, 1907).
    18,168 Gross Tons; Length: 598.8'; Breadth: 68.2'. Lost 31 May 1918

     USS President Grant:

    Picture Data

     USS President Lincoln at sea:


    Picture Data


    ONE SHIP -- ONE SMOKESTACK and FIVE MASTS:

  • Artemis, USN 1919-1919 (ex-German S.S. Bohemia, 1902).
    8,414 Gross Tons; Length: 500.5'; Breadth: 58.3'
    This ship may have originated as a freighter, rather than as a passenger vessel.

     USS Artemis, 1919:

    Picture Data


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


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    Page made 24 March 2007