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UNITED STATES NAVY
TEMPORARY AUXILIARY SHIPS
WORLD WAR I

Photo # 19-N-7572: S.S. St. Louis in camouflage in 1917, while operating as a troop transport


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

S.S. Saint Louis (American Passenger Liner, 1895).
Served as USS Saint Louis in 1898 and as USS Louisville (ID # 1644) in 1918-1919

S.S. Saint Louis, a 11,629 gross ton passenger steamship, was built at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by the Cramp shipyard. Completed in 1895 for the American Line, she was employed in the North Atlantic for nearly all of her long career. During the Spanish-American War she served for several months as USS Saint Louis. In March 1917, a few weeks before the United States entered World War I, the ship was armed, with a U.S. Navy detachment on board to serve her guns. She spent the next year as a passenger liner and as a civilian-operated troop transport. During this time St. Louis had at least two encounters with German submarines, possibly ramming one in late May 1917.

St. Louis was taken over by the Navy in April 1918 and served from then until September 1919 as USS Louisville (ID # 1644). Returned to her owners at the conclusion of that time, she was renamed St. Louis. The ship was undergoing shipyard refurbishment when, in January 1920, she burned and sank at Hoboken, New Jersey. Though raised, she was far too old to be worth repairing and, after five years of inactivity, was sold for scrapping in 1925. Following a final trans-Atlantic voyage, at the end of a tow line, she was broken up in Italy.

This page features, and provides links to, all the views that are available related to the passenger liner St. Louis, which served as USS St. Louis in 1898 and as USS Louisville in 1918-1919.

For other images concerning this ship, see:

  • USS Saint Louis (1898). Later USS Louisville (ID # 1644), 1918-1919.


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

    Photo #: NH 51425

    S.S. Saint Louis     (American Passenger Liner, 1895)

    Halftone reproduction of an artwork, published while the ship was under construction at the William Cramp & Sons Ship and Engine Building Company shipyard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
    This ship served as USS Saint Louis in 1898 and as USS Louisville (ID # 1644) in 1918-1919.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 78KB; 740 x 455 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 51427

    S.S. Saint Louis     (American Passenger Liner, 1895)

    Fine screen halftone reproduction of a photograph, published in 1898 at the time of the Spanish-American War. It was probably taken at the time of her completion, circa 1895, while Saint Louis was off the shipyard of her builder, the William Cramp & Sons Ship and Engine Building Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
    This ship was USS Saint Louis in 1898 and USS Louisville (ID # 1644) in 1918-1919.
    The ship fitting out in the left background is either USS Indiana (Battleship # 1) or USS Massachusetts (Battleship # 2), both of which were built by Cramp.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 112KB; 740 x 620 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 65122

    S.S. Saint Louis     (American Passenger Liner, 1895)

    Photographed prior to World War I.
    This ship served as USS Saint Louis in 1898 and as USS Louisville (ID # 1644) in 1918-1919.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 43KB; 740 x 380 pixels

     
    Photo #: 19-N-7572

    S.S. Saint Louis     (American Passenger Liner, 1895)

    Photographed in 1917, while operating as a troop transport.
    She is painted in Mackay type camouflage.
    This ship became USS Louisville (ID # 1644) in April 1918.

    Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

    Online Image: 88KB; 740 x 605 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: 19-N-7573

    S.S. Saint Louis     (American Passenger Liner, 1895)

    Photographed during the winter of 1917-1918, while operating as a troop transport. Note ice on the harbor surface.
    Saint Louis had recently been repainted in pattern camouflage. She became USS Louisville (ID # 1644) in April 1918 and received another camouflage scheme in the early summer of that year.

    Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

    Online Image: 72KB; 740 x 610 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: NH 89499

    S.S. Saint Louis     (American Passenger Liner, 1895)

    Starboard waist gun (five-inch?), photographed during a trans-Atlantic passage to Liverpool, England, 19-27 December 1917.
    This ship, operating as a civilian troopship at the time of this photograph, became USS Louisville (ID # 1644) in April 1918.

    Collection of Lieutenant (Junior Grade) A. Alvin Booth, USNRF.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 71KB; 740 x 520 pixels

     

    For other images concerning this ship, see:

  • USS Saint Louis (1898). Later USS Louisville (ID # 1644), 1918-1919.


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    Page made 16 October 2004