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UNITED STATES NAVY
TEMPORARY AUXILIARY SHIPS
WORLD WAR I

Photo #  NH 102369:  SS West Apaum on trials, 19 June 1918


Online Library of Selected Images:
-- CIVILIAN SHIPS --

West Apaum (American Freighter, 1918).
Served as USS West Apaum (ID # 3221) in 1918-1919

West Apaum, a 5573.93 gross ton freighter built at Seattle, Washington, was completed in mid-June 1918. Almost immediately taken over by the Navy and commissioned as USS West Apaum (ID # 3221), she began her first operational voyage late in the month, steaming to Arica, Chile, to pick up a cargo of nitrates. She then proceeded to the U.S. East Coast via the Panama Canal. Between October 1918 and July 1919 West Apaum made three round-trip trans-Atlantic crossings, carrying cargo between the United States and France. Decommissioned in late July 1919, she was then returned to the U.S. Shipping Board. SS West Apaum was abandoned in 1933.

This page features all available views concerning the freighter West Apaum, which served as USS West Apaum (ID # 3221) in 1918-1919.


Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 102369

SS West Apaum
(American Freighter, 1918)

Underway during builder's trials, off Seattle, Washington, on 19 June 1918. She was constructed in 78 working days by the Skinner & Eddy Corporation, of Seattle.
This steamship was acquired by the Navy on 20 June 1919 and placed in commission as USS West Apaum (ID # 3221). She was returned to the U.S. Shipping Board on 25 July 1919.
Note her "dazzle" type pattern camouflage.

The original print is in National Archives' Record Group 19-LCM.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 76KB; 740 x 530 pixels

 


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