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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

AK-1 Houston

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from left to right
World War I Victory Medal (with Transport clasp) - Yangtze Service Medal

Houston Class Cargo Ship:

Built in 1903 at Bremer Vulcan, Vegesack, Germany as SS Liebenfels

Laid up at the outbreak of WWI at Charleston, S.C. by the US Government in August 1914

Scuttled and abandoned by her crew at Charleston, 1 February 1917

Raised and entered Charleston Navy Yard for conversion to Naval service, 20 March 1917

Commissioned USS Houston, 3 July 1917, LCDR. W. H. Lee, USNRF in command

Designated (AK-1), 17 July 1920

Decommissioned, 23 March 1922

Struck from the Naval Register (date unknown)

Commercial History

Sold, 27 September 1922, to Frank M. Warren of Portland, OR,

Renamed SS North King in 1923

Sold to Campania Diana de Vapores S.A., Panama, date unknown

Chartered by the War Shipping Administration (WSA) from Campania Diana de Vapores S.A., 30 December 1941, at New York, N.Y.

Transferred to United States Lines Co. for operation, 30 December 1941

Returned to Campania Diana de Vapores S.A., 26 February 1946, at New York, N.Y.

Final Disposition, scrapped, circa 1957

Specifications:
Displacement 4,525 t.(lt) 9,000 t.(fl)
Length 392'
Beam 50' 9"
Draft 25' 4"
Speed 11 kts.
Complement 145
Armament four 3" guns
Propulsion coal fired boilers, engine type unknown, single propeller

Size	Image Description	Source
77k	*Houston, pictured in drydock, was the ex German Liebenfels* which had been seized by Customs Officials, 6 April 1917 US Navy photo # NR&L(M) 4263 from DANFS.	Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
75k	*Houston* at Charleston Navy Yard, Charleston, S.C. View from Pier 314 (reinforced concrete dock), looking inland, 1 May 1917. The former German freighter *Liebenfels* is dry docked at left. She was commissioned as *Houston* in early July 1917. US Navy photo # NH 45245 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.	US Naval Historical Center
124k	*Houston* in dry dock at Charleston Navy Yard, while undergoing conversion for Naval service, 6 May 1917. Note dredge in the right distance, and timber stores in the foreground. US Navy photo # NH 53576 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.	US Naval Historical Center
84k	*Houston* at Charleston Navy Yard, 2 July 1917, following conversion from the ex-German freighter *Liebenfels. Note the station ship Hartford* is in the distance, beyond *Houston's bow. US Navy photo # NH 53580* from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.	US Naval Historical Center
51k	*Houston* at Charleston, S.C., 18 April 1918, with Navy *Coal Barge No. 213* alongside. US Navy photo # NH 89407 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.	US Naval Historical Center
79k	*Houston* before designation as (AK-1), moored, date and place unknown, circa 1918. US National Archives photo # 181-PS-821, a US Navy photo now in the collections of the US National Archives	Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
185k	Broadside view of Houston (AK-1) San Francisco Bay, circa 1922. US Navy photo.	Darryl Baker
159k	Broadside view of Houston (AK-1) in San Francisco Bay, circa 1922. US Navy photo.	Darryl Baker

View the Houston (AK-1)
DANFS history entry located on the US Naval Historical Center

Crew Contact And Reunion Information
Not Applicable to this Vessel

Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
No Information Available

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Last Updated 3 August 2007