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UNITED STATES NAVY
TEMPORARY AUXILIARY SHIPS
WORLD WAR I

Photo # NH 64594-A: SS Berwyn off Sparrows Point, Maryland, 26 September 1918


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

S.S. Berwyn (American Freighter, 1918).
Served as USS Berwyn (ID # 3565) in 1918-1919

Berwyn, a 4992 gross ton freighter, was built at Sparrows Point, Maryland, as part of the Nation's World War I shipbuilding program. Upon completion in September 1918 she was transferred to the U.S. Navy and placed in commission as USS Berwyn (ID # 3565). She began her first Atlantic crossing to France in late October, arriving in mid-November, after the Armistice had ended the fighting, and returning to the U.S. in December. During January-May 1919 the freighter completed two more round-trip voyages to European waters, the first to France and the second to England. Decommissioned and returned to the U.S. Shipping Board in May, Berwyn was operated as a civilian vessel at least into the early 1920s.

This page features all available views concerning the freighter Berwyn, which was USS Berwyn (ID # 3565) in 1918-1919.


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

Photo #: NH 64594-A

SS Berwyn (American Freighter, 1917)

Off the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation shipyard, Sparrows Point, Maryland, upon completion, 26 September 1918.
This ship was acquired by the U.S. Navy and placed in commission on 28 September 1918 as USS Berwyn (ID # 3565). She was returned to the U.S. Shipping Board on 10 May 1919.
Note her pattern camouflage.

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

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 51KB; 740 x 600 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 64594-A (excerpt)

SS Berwyn (American Freighter, 1917)

This is an enlargement from the above image.

 

Note: Photo # 19-N-14786 was long identified as showing USS Berwyn (ID # 3565). However both the probably lower Mississippi River location of the view, and details of the ship seen, make this identification highly unlikely.


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Page made 18 April 2004