WWI Ship Name Index   Return to WWI Auxiliaries.

UNITED STATES NAVY
TEMPORARY AUXILIARY SHIPS
WORLD WAR I

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

S.S. West Elcajon (American Freighter, 1918)
Later renamed Golden Kauri, Waipio and Paralos II.
Served as USS West Elcajon (ID # 3907) in 1919

West Elcajon, a 6090 gross ton cargo ship, was built in 1918 by Skinner & Eddy Corporation at Seattle, Washington, for the U.S. Shipping Board. In mid-January 1919 she was turned over to the U.S. Navy and placed in commission as USS West Elcajon (ID # 3907). Assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service, the steamer left the West Coast at the beginning of February, transporting a cargo of flour to the Atlantic Coast, and subsequently to Trieste and Italy. West Elcajon returned to the U.S. in May 1919 and was decommissioned late in that month. She was in Shipping Board custody from then until 1928, when she became the Oceanic and Oriental Navigation Company's Golden Kauri. After more than a decade of commercial service, in 1939 she was renamed Waipio for employment by the Matson Line, which operated her until 1946. The ship was then transferred to Panamanian registry, renamed Paralos II and remained in service until the mid-1950s.

This page features all available views concerning the freighter West Elcajon, which was USS West Elcajon (ID # 3907) in 1918-1919.

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

Return to WWI Auxiliaries.

Page made 27 February 2005