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UNITED STATES NAVY
TEMPORARY AUXILIARY SHIPS
WORLD WAR I
TEMPORARY AUXILIARY SHIPS
WORLD WAR I
Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --
USS Mercer (ID # 3837), 1919-1919.
Originally, and later, S.S. Mercer (U.S. Freighter, 1918).
Later renamed Empire Kangaroo, Parthenia, Erminia
Mazzella and Pina Onorato
USS Mercer, a 13,130-ton cargo ship, was built to Emergency Fleet Corporation Design 1037 at Kearny (Hackensack River), New Jersey, in 1918 as the civilian ship of the same name. The Navy acquired her upon completion in January 1919 and immediately placed her in commission. She made one voyage to Europe, with a cargo of food, beginning in mid-February. Upon arrival in England, she was given emergency repairs and then sent to Antwerp, Belgium. After staying at that port into early May, Mercer recrossed the Atlantic and steamed on to New Orleans, Louisiana, where she was decommissioned late in that month. She was returned to the United States Shipping Board in early June 1919.
Mercer remained in that agency's custody until 1941, when she was transferred to British registry and renamed Empire Kangaroo. She operated as Parthenia in 1946-1949, then went to Italian registry, initially as Erminia Mazzella and, from 1951, as Pina Onorato. The ship was scrapped at Spezia, Italy, in 1958.
This page features all available views concerning USS Mercer (ID # 3837) and the civilian S.S. Mercer, Empire Kangaroo, Parthenia, Erminia Mazzella and Pina Onorato.
Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.
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Photo #: None Mercer (U.S. Freighter, 1918) Photographed on 29 December 1918 by her builder, Federal Shipbuilding Company, Kearny, New Jersey. Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-32-S. |
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Photo #: None Mercer (U.S. Freighter, 1918) Photographed on 14 January 1919 by her builder, Federal Shipbuilding Company, Kearny, New Jersey. Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-32-S. |
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Photo #: NH 102029 Mercer (U.S. Freighter, 1918) Photographed by Lionel Dottin, probably at the yard of her builder, Federal Shipbuilding Company, Kearny, New Jersey, after completion but before commencing her Naval service. She was acquired by the Navy and commissioned on 16 January 1919 as USS Mercer (ID # 3837). She was returned to the U.S. Shipping Board on 3 June 1919. The original print is in National Archives' Record Group 19-LCM. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 56KB; 740 x 525 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 105618 USS Mercer (ID # 3837) Probably photographed around the time the ship was inspected by the Third Naval District in January 1919. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 50KB; 580 x 675 pixels Note: This image is a double-exposure! |
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Photo #: NH 386 USS Mercer (ID # 3837) In drydock, possibly in a European port, 1919. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 83KB; 740 x 580 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 49901 USS Mercer (ID # 3837) View from off the ship's bow while she was in drydock, possibly in a European port, 1919. Note her anchor chains and what appears to be a paravane skeg attached to the lower part of her stem. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 76KB; 555 x 765 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 49902 USS Mercer (ID # 3837) Crewmen standing on the ship's fantail, 1919. Note: fancy style of name painted on her stern; rivets in her hull plating. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 73KB; 740 x 595 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 84504 USS Mercer (ID # 3837) Crewmen leaving the ship for liberty in a European port, 1919. Note the sign on her gangway, reading: "For the Accomodation of the Captain and Ship's Crew Only". U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 103KB; 740 x 585 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 84505 USS Mercer (ID # 3837) Ship's officers standing beside her gangway, while she was drydocked in a European port, 1919. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 105KB; 740 x 590 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 105651 S.S. Pina Onorato (Italian Freighter, 1919) Shown between 1951 and 1958. This ship served as USS Mercer (ID # 3837) from January to June 1919. Donation of Captain Stephen S. Roberts, USNR (Retired), 2008. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 84KB; 740 x 490 pixels |
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Return to WWI Auxiliaries.Page made 10 February 2002
New image added and introductory text revised 10 May 2008