WWI Ship Name Index   Return to WWI Auxiliaries.

UNITED STATES NAVY
TEMPORARY AUXILIARY SHIPS
WORLD WAR I

S.S. Wieldrecht, later USS Wieldrecht (ID # 2519)

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

S.S. Wieldrecht (Dutch Tanker, 1913)
Served as USS Wieldrecht (ID # 2519) in 1918-1919.
Later named Myriel and Miriella.

Wieldrecht, a 3559 gross ton (7350 tons displacement) trunk deck tanker, was built at Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in 1913 for Philippus van Ommeren Shipping. She was seized by the United States Government on 20 March 1918 under the right of angary, which allowed a belligerent power to use the property of a neutral nation if necessary, subject to full indemnification. The Navy took her over at New York and commissioned her as USS Wieldrecht (ID # 2519) on 4 April 1918, but soon decommissioned her and turned her over to the U.S. Shipping Board for operation. However, on 17 June 1918, while the ship was at Montevideo, Uruguay, the Navy again placed her commission.

After refitting at New York, Wieldrecht loaded a full cargo of fuel oil at Norfolk and sailed on 5 July 1918 in a convoy bound for Brest, France. Arriving there on 24 July, she discharged her cargo and two days later headed back to New York in another convoy. This itinerary was then repeated, with the ship loading fuel oil at Norfolk in early September, delivering it at La Pallice, France, in late September, and returning to New York in late October. She then made two direct voyages carrying fuel oil from New York, one to France in November and December 1918 and one to Rotterdam between February and April 1919. USS Wieldrecht was decommissioned and turned over to the Shipping Board at New York on 10 April 1919.

After a decade of operations for Van Ommeren the ship was sold and renamed Myriel in 1930 and again sold and transferred to British registry in 1932. She was damaged by a torpedo from the German submarine U-431 on 13 December 1941 but was repaired at Alexandria. She became the Italian Miriella in 1947 and was scrapped in Italy in 1955.

This page features all available views concerning the Dutch tanker Wieldrecht, which was USS Wieldrecht (ID # 2519) in 1918-1919.


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

Photo #: None

S.S. Wieldrecht (Dutch Tanker, 1913)

Photographed in Dutch service.

Source: www.photoship.co.uk

 
Photo #: None

S.S. Wieldrecht (Dutch Tanker, 1913)

Photographed in Dutch service.

Source: www.zeevlootvos.bebelaar.nl.

 
Photo #: NH 105237

S.S. Wieldrecht (Dutch Tanker, 1913)

This particularly crude photo may have been taken when the ship was inspected by the Third Naval District on 26 March 1918. This tanker was in commission as USS Wieldrecht (ID # 2519) from 17 June 1918 to 10 April 1919.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 55KB; 745 x 470 pixels

 
Photo #: None

S.S. Mijdrecht (Dutch Tanker, 1912)

The sister of Wieldrecht photographed in Dutch service.
She was operated by the U.S. Shipping Board during 1918 but was not assigned to the Navy.

Source: www.zeevlootvos.bebelaar.nl.

 


Return to WWI Auxiliaries.

Page made 9 October 2007