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UNITED STATES NAVY
TEMPORARY AUXILIARY SHIPS
WORLD WAR I

Photo # NH 105017: USS Graf Waldersee under tow by USS Patricia, 12 June 1919, following her collision with S.S. Redondo.

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USS Graf Waldersee (ID # 4040), 1919-1919
-- Collision with S.S. Redondo, 11 June 1919

In the early evening of 11 June 1919 the U.S. Navy transport Graf Waldersee sailed from Hoboken, New Jersey, en route to France to pick up her third contingent of homeward bound World War I veterans. Encountering heavy fog as she steamed south of Long Island, speed was reduced and the fog horn sounded regularly. When another horn was heard ahead, the ship slowed even more and her course was altered to starboard, but shortly before midnight the commercial freighter Redondo loomed out of the fog and rammed Graf Waldersee amidships on the port side. The force of the impact threw sleeping men from their bunks, and the transport's machinery spaces soon flooded, leaving her dead in the water with a list to port. Commander Charles S. Kerrick, her Commanding Officer, ordered life rafts launched in preparation for abandoning the ship.

Early in the morning of June 12 the transport Patricia, summoned by radio distress signals, arrived on the scene and, in almost total darkness, began removing Graf Waldersee's few passengers and her non-essential crew members. The leaking Redondo then steamed to New York as Patricia took the disabled ship in tow. Graf Waldersee was run aground off Long Beach, where divers began rigging a temporary tarpaulin and planking patch to allow her to be pumped out. This work continued until the afternoon of 14 June, when the ship was refloated. Towed to New York by four tugs, she was repaired in time to make a final round-trip voyage in August, bringing more than 1600 troops and passengers home from Brest, France.

This page features all available views related to the collision between USS Graf Waldersee (ID # 4040) and the steamship Redondo, off New York on the night of 11 June 1919.

For other images concerning this ship, see:

  • USS Graf Waldersee (ID # 4040), 1919-1919.


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

    Photo #: NH 105017

    USS Graf Waldersee     (ID # 4040)

    Under tow by USS Patricia off Long Island on 12 June 1919, after she had been disabled in collision with S.S. Redondo. Graf Waldersee was towed to shallow water, where collision damage was sufficiently patched to allow her return to New York for permanent repairs.
    Photographed from on board Patricia. Two tugs are also present.

    Photograph from the album of Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Edward D. Porges. Donated by his daughter, Gail Porges Guggenheim, 2007.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 77KB; 740 x 490 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 105016

    USS Graf Waldersee     (ID # 4040)

    Under tow by USS Patricia off Long Island on 12 June 1919, after she had been disabled in collision with S.S. Redondo. Graf Waldersee was towed to shallow water, where collision damage was sufficiently patched to allow her return to New York for permanent repairs.
    Photographed from on board Patricia. Two tugs are also present.

    Photograph from the album of Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Edward D. Porges. Donated by his daughter, Gail Porges Guggenheim, 2007.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 55KB; 740 x 460 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 105015

    USS Patricia     (1919-1919)

    Ship's life boats under tow on 12 June 1919, while Patricia was removing men from USS Graf Waldersee (ID # 4040). The latter was disabled in collision with S.S. Redondo a few hours after departing New York on a voyage to France.
    Edward D. Porges, then an officer on Patricia, inscribed this photograph: "My life boat # 11 was sent to disabled Graf Waldersee".

    Photograph from the album of Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Edward D. Porges. Donated by his daughter, Gail Porges Guggenheim, 2007.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 88KB; 440 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 105018

    USS Patricia     (1919-1919)

    One of the ship's life boats alongside, with its crew suffering from sea sickness, 12 June 1919. Patricia was then removing men from USS Graf Waldersee (ID # 4040), which had been disabled in collision with S.S. Redondo a few hours after departing New York on a voyage to France.
    Edward D. Porges, then an officer on Patricia, inscribed this photograph: "My men all laying sea sick".

    Photograph from the album of Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Edward D. Porges. Donated by his daughter, Gail Porges Guggenheim, 2007.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 59KB; 740 x 550 pixels

     


    For other images concerning this ship, see:

  • USS Graf Waldersee (ID # 4040), 1919-1919.


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    Page made 12 September 2007