EFC Design 1024 (Standard Fabricated Hog Island Type B):
Notes & Illustrations
Click here for larger and more complete plans: Sheet 1, Sheet 2 (Download for full size)
Click on the photographs below to prompt larger views of the same images.
|
Notes: On 13 July 1917 the first general manager of the Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC), General George W. Goethals, informed the chairman of the Shipping Board that his main reliance for getting the greatest amount of tonnage in the shortest time would be on the construction of fabricated steel ships of standard pattern. On 13 September 1917 the EFC contracted with the American International Corporation (owner of the New York Shipbuilding Corp.) for the construction by a subsidiary, the American International Shipbuilding Company, of an immense shipyard with 50 building ways in a "dismal swampy place" on the Delaware River named Hog Island and also contracted for 50 7500-ton 11.5-knot standard fabricated freighters (EFC Hulls 492-541) designated Hog Island Type A (Design 1022) with a plan to to build 200 ships of this type there in the next 18 months. On 23 October 1917, however, instead of more 7500-ton cargo ships, it added to this contract 70 8000-ton 15-knot standard fabricated combined transport and freight vessels (EFC Hulls 669-738) designated Hog Island Type B (Design 1024). The first wartime announcement by the Shipping Board and the military on the designs for new transport ships was that they planned two specific types: a big, fast 13,000 tonner able to carry 3,500 troops at 18 knots and an 8,500 ton transport that could carry about 2,300 men at 15 knots. After the war the Design 1024 Hog Island Type B became a passenger and cargo ship of 8000 tons deadweight capacity arranged for service as a troop ship. Its load displacement was 12,900 tons at a draft of 28 feet. Its increased capacity and much higher speed (15 instead of 11 knots) made it both larger and more expensive than the Design 1022 Type A freighter. It resembled the freighter, however, in being designed without sheer or deck camber and in otherwise minimizing hull curves to facilitate fabrication. It was a single-screw shelter-deck steamer with forecastle, bridge island, and poop, three decks and two 'tween decks, and a vertical stem and vertical cruiser stern. The hull was divided by ten watertight steel bulkheads extending up to the shelter deck forming seven cargo holds and the engine and boiler spaces. The holds and 'tween-deck spaces were used for cargo except when carrying troops, 1,200 of whom were berthed in the upper 'tween decks. (By January 1920 troops occupied both of the 'tween decks and, according to shipyard statistics cited by Goldberg, the Type B ships were completed with a capacity of 2,133 troops.) The hull was built with transverse framing. There were seven main cargo hatches through the second, upper, and shelter decks, plus a small hatch in the bridge island which could be used in case coal was burned in the boilers. The original rig consisted of a single mast and eight derrick posts, although as completed the single mast was omitted and each pair of derrick posts was connected at the top by cross braces, two of which carried topmasts. Immediately after the war it was believed that there would be a good market for freighters in the postwar private sector including all 110 from Hog Island but that there would be no chance of disposing of 70 troopships to private buyers. Of the Type B ships, EFC Hulls 719-738 were suspended on 31 January 1919, Hulls 704-718 followed on 21 February 1919, and all 35 were cancelled on 31 March 1919. The EFC Board of Trustees on 9 April 1919 directed that six Type B hulls (669-674) be completed as troopships and that the other 29 should be passenger and cargo vessels. All of these 35 remaining Type B hulls (669-703) were suspended on 17 May 1919 but on the same day Hulls 669-680 were reinstated, the first eleven to be finished as troopships and hull 680 being held in abeyance pending a decision as to whether it should be finished as a passenger and cargo vessel or a troopship. On 19 August 1919 it was included among the troopships, which the Army wanted for service to the Philippines. The 23 remaining suspended Type B ships (681-703) were cancelled on 6 November 1919, leaving only the twelve Army transports. The Army soon found that it had overestimated its requirements. Of the twelve Type B's, one (Wright) went to the Navy before completion in 1920 and two (Chaumont and Argonne) followed in 1921 after completion. The Army laid up three more (Ourcq, Tours, and Aisne) in January-February 1921 without using them, a fourth (Marne) after one year in commission in December 1921, and a fifth (Cantigny) in July 1922 after several voyages. They were thus available when the Shipping Board had to replace the five passenger and cargo ships of the "502" (Design 1095) class that the United States Lines had been running for the Board between New York and London but which the Board had sold in September 1923. Since the passenger portion of that service had been unprofitable the Shipping Board in 1923 assigned the five ex-Army ships to a cargo-only service to England run by the American Merchant Line (co-owned with the United States Line after 1929). Their passenger accommodations were increased from 16 to 80 or 90 in 1926. Two more (Somme and Cambrai) joined them in 1931, having been traded for the liner Republic, and the last two (Chateau Thierry and St. Mihiel) went to the Navy as transports in 1941. (Special sources: Mark H. Goldberg, The "Hog Islanders", Kings Point, New York, 1991; Steven E. Clay, U.S. Army Order of Battle, 1919-1941, Vol. 4, Fort Leavenworth, 2010); International Marine Engineering,, 1917-1920.) Names: All 70 Design 1024 transports along with the first 50 Design 1022 freighters were assigned names by Mrs. Woodrow Wilson on 17 April 1918. The names she selected were "of pure Indian origin." On 3 August 1918 Tampa (EFC Hull 701) became Beaverdam and Unadilla (EFC 734) became Hackney, and around the same time Sunapee (Hull 696) became Hexlena, all because Navy and Coast Guard ships had the original names. By October 1918, before any were laid down, all 70 transports had been reassigned names beginning with Mount, apparently by the Hog Island yard. These were the final names of the 58 cancelled ships, which are listed here. The Indian and "Mount" names for the twelve completed ships are given below along with their keel dates. Between 8 May and 18 June 1919 Mount Catoosa, Mount Chestnut, and Mount Pine carried the names Coahoma County, Chickasaw, and City of Alton, all transferred from Design 1022 ships and then reassigned elsewhere. Hull 670 was launched by King Albert of the Belgians on 27 October 1919 under the name Cantigny which the Army kept. On 1 November and 2 December 1919 the Army Transportation Service provided two lists of names which it had to withdraw on 16 December because the Secretary of War and the Chief of Staff wanted to review them. (These names, which were used for a while by the USSB, are in parentheses.) The definitive Army and Navy (1) names with the dates they were assigned follow these. (Special source: NARA RG-32) Hull 669: Shohokin, Mount Wolf (Keel 9.11.1918), (USAT Cambrai, Yorktown), USAT Cambrai (Confirmed 16.12.1919) Hull 670: Shohola, Mount Michael (11.11.1918), USAT Cantigny (Confirmed 16.12.1919) Hull 671: Shope, Mount Herrell (18.11.1918), (USAT St. Mihiel, Argonne), USAT Chaumont (Assigned 30.3.1920) Hull 672: Sinnemahoning, Mount Pocksha (20.11.1918), (USAT Argonne), USAT St. Mihiel (Confirmed 16.12.1919) Hull 673: Sinsiniwa, Mount Uraka (22.11.1918), (Navy AD, USAT Erie), USAT Argonne (Assigned 10.1.1920) Hull 674: Siskowit, Mount Black (25.11.1918), (USAT Chateau Thierry, Vera Cruz), USAT Somme (Asgd. 11.3.1920, ex Marne?) Hull 675: Sisladobsis, Mount Catoosa (2.12.1918), (Navy AZ, USAT Petersburg), USAT Aisne (Assigned 28.6.1920) Hull 676: Sisseton, Mount Chestnut (31.12.1918), (USAT Marne), USAT Ourcq (Assigned ca.6.1920) Hull 677: Sitkum, Mount Pine (6.1.1919), (Navy AD, USAT Santiago), USAT Marne (Assigned 11.3.1920) Hull 678: Skamania, Mount Bienville (25.1.1919), (Navy AZ, USAT Manila), USAT Chateau Thierry (Confirmed 16.12.1919) Hull 679: Skanawono, Mount Bald (29.1.1919), (USAT Aisne, Peking), USAT Tours (Assigned 2.7.1920) Hull 680: Skaneateles, Mount Hockton (20.3.1919), (USAT Somme), USS Wright (Assigned 27.4.1920) Specifications: Design 1024 (USAT Cambrai, EFC Hull 669): Steel Army Transport. Deadweight tons: 8000 designed. Dimensions: 448' length oa, 435' pp x 58' beam mld. x 40' depth mld. to shelter deck, 28' draft loaded. Propulsion: 1 G.E. Curtis turbine, 6 Babcock & Wilcox water tube boilers, 6000 SHP, 15 kts. Configuration: 3 decks, 7 holds, 7 hatches. |
| USAT Cantigny (Design 1024, EFC Hull 670) on her delivery voyage on 23 August 1920. All but one of the twelve completed Design 1024 ships initially went to the Army as transports. She has the configuration of the bridge house with the fronts of all three levels (bridge deck, boat deck, and flying bridge) open to the elements. She has no shield painted on the bow. (NARA: RG-32-UB box 34) (Click photo to enlarge) |
|
USS Wright (Design 1024, EFC Hull 680) Probably shown arriving on 31 October 1920 under tow at her conversion shipyard in Hoboken, N.J., from her builder's yard at Hog Island, Pa. She grounded in attempting to enter her slip (possibly shown here) and was floated and tied up temporarily to other vessels. Here she is a standard Hog Island Type B transport (EFC Design 1024) with many items in the after part of the ship, including both goalpost masts, not installed. Photographed by Todd Shipyards Corp., owner of the Hoboken yard. Photo No. 19-N-7909 Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-19-LCM. Another copy is filed as 80-G-1017222 |
 |
|
USAT Somme (Design 1024, EFC Hull 674) USAT Somme was one of two ships of this class that served the Army until 1931, the other being USAT Cambrai. Here all three levels at the front of the bridge house are open as originally built and she sports a large painted shield on the bow. At one point Cambrai looked similar except that she had a row of large windows enclosing and protecting the front of the boat deck (the middle level of the bridge house). USAT Somme and Cambrai were home ported at Fort Mason, San Francisco from 1922 to 1931. Photo No. None Source: Shipscribe |
 |
|
USAT Chateau Thierry (Design 1024, EFC Hull 678) USAT Chateau Thierry was one of the two ships of this class that remained in Army service until going to the Navy in 1941, the other being St. Mihiel. Here she has the original open front of the bridge house without windows and has a very small shield painted on the bow. Photo No. None Source: NavSource |
 |
|
S.S. American Farmer ex USAT Ourcq (Design 1024, EFC Hull 676) USAT Ourcq was transferred in 1923 to the American Merchant Line and entered their service in 1924 as as American Farmer. With four sisters she formed the line's American Banker class which operated as combination passenger cargo ships between the U.S. and the U.K. Note that her paint scheme attempts to give this very square-cut vessel the illusion of a graceful sheer line. Note also the American flag on her side, probably a neutrality marking applied in 1939. Photo No. NH 105259 Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command |
 |
USAT Cantigny (Design 1024, EFC Hull 670) The former USAT Cantigny on 7 December 1923 near Newark, New Jersey, after striking a drawbridge while she was passing through Newark Bay enroute to the yard of the Federal Shipbuilding Co. where she was to be overhauled for commercial service as American Banker. A fleet of tugs finally dislodged her after hours of work. Freight traffic of the Lehigh Valley and Pennsylvania Railroads in Newark was disrupted by the accident. Photo No. NH 83456 Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command |
 |
|
USAT Chateau Thierry (Design 1024, EFC Hull 678) The front of the boat deck in the middle of the bridge face has been enclosed by a row of large windows. The bridge deck and flying bridge remain open. She is sporting a large painted shield on the bow and appears to be painted white. Photo No. None Source: Shipscribe |
 |
|
USAT St. Mihiel (Design 1024, EFC Hull 672) The center portion of the flying bridge is now enclosed in addition to the front of the boat deck below it. She has a large painted shield on the bow. This appearance matches a Library of Congress photo estimated to date from 1924. USAT St. Mihiel was home ported at the Army Supply Base at Brooklyn in 1920 and transferred to Fort Mason, San Francisco, ca. 1931. Photo No. None Source: Shipscribe |
 |
|
USAT Chateau Thierry (Design 1024, EFC Hull 678) In this near side view the center portion of the flying bridge is now enclosed in addition to the front of the boat deck below it as in St. Mihiel, above. The ship lacks a painted shield on the bow. USAT Chateau Thierry was home ported at Fort Mason, San Francisco in 1921 and reassigned to the Army Supply Base, Brooklyn, in 1932. Photo No. None Source: Shipscribe |
 |
|
USS Chaumont (Design 1024, EFC Hull 671) USAT Chaumont was loaned by the Army to the Navy as a transport in November 1921 and permanently transferred in August 1924. The middle level at the front end of the bridge house was enclosed by June 1922 and the middle portion of the upper level was enclosed between 1932 and 1936. Argonne, transferred to the Navy at the same time, had an open bridge house face even after her conversion to a submarine tender. Photo No. NH 99601 Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command |
 |
|
USAT St. Mihiel (Design 1024, EFC Hull 672) This near side view shows the ship without a bow shield. The middle level at the front end of the bridge house and middle portion of the flying bridge above the wheel house are enclosed. She has lost her after pair of derrick posts. St. Mihiel was laid up between November 1932 and April 1935 at Fort Mason and briefly in mid-1939 at Brooklyn. Photo No. None Source: Shipscribe |
 |
|
USAT St. Mihiel (Design 1024, EFC Hull 672) Maneuvering off the Presidio, San Francisco, with a two-stack Army tug assisting. She is configured as in the above photo but with the row of windows on the middle level painted dark. The lower level of the front of the bridge face remains open. The two-stack Army tug is probably Slocum, which was home ported at Fort Mason, Cal., from 1919 to 1946. Photo No. None Source: Shipscribe |
 |
|
USAT Chateau Thierry (Design 1024, EFC Hull 678) Shown pierside in light paint without a bow shield. All three levels of the front of the bridge house are now enclosed and she appears to be painted white. Like St. Mihiel above she has lost her after pair of derrick posts. Her troop capacity was increased while she was laid up at New York between April 1939 and February 1940. Photo No. None Source: Shipscribe |
 |
|
S.S. Ville de Liege ex USAT Ourcq (Design 1024, EFC Hull 676) Following the passage of the Neutrality Act in late 1939 the American owners of American Farmer, ex USAT Ourcq, set up a Belgian shipping company to which it sold her as Ville de Liege. She was torpedoed by U-52 on 13 April 1941 off the east coast of Greenland. Photo No. NH 105257 Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command |
 |
|
S.S. City of Athens ex USAT Cantigny (Design 1024, EFC Hull 670) The former USAT Cantigny entered commercial service with the United States Line in 1924 as American Banker. Following the passage of the Neutrality Act in late 1939 her American owners sold her to a Belgian subsidiary as Ville d'Anvers. She is shown here after the war as City of Athens with 200 berths while under uncertain ownership between 1946 and 1947. Photo No. NH 105290 Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command |
 |
|
S.S. Arosa Kulm ex USAT Cantigny (Design 1024, EFC Hull 670) S.S. City of Athens, ex USAT Cantigny, was rebuilt in 1947 as the migrant carrier Protea with over 1000 berths. In 1952 she was sold to the Arosa Lines and is shown here as their Arosa Kulm, now with 900 berths. She was arrested for debt in 1958 and broken up in Belgium in 1959. Photo No. None Source: Shipscribe |
 |