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NavSource Online:Service Ship Photo Archive

USAT Mount Vernon
ex-USS Mount Vernon (ID 4508)

Mount Vernon served both the U. S. Navy and Army.
Transport:

  • Built in 1906 as Kronprinzesin Cecilie by Actien Gesellschaft, Stettin, Germany
  • Interned at Bar Harbor, ME at U.S. entrance into World War I
  • Seized by the United States Shipping Board 3 February 1917
  • Acquired by the Navy and converted to a Naval Transport at Boston, MA
  • Commissioned, USS Mount Vernon (ID 4508), 28 July 1917
  • Decommissioned 29 September 1919 and transferred to the War Department for service as an Army transport
  • Scrapped 13 September 1940 at Boston.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 19,506 t.
  • Length 706' 4"
  • Beam 72'
  • Draft 31' 1"
  • Speed 24 kts.
  • Complement 1,030
  • Armament: Four single 5" gun mounts and two 1-pounders
  • Propulsion: Steam turbine.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		Size Image Description Source
    Kronprinzessin Cecilie
    Mount Vernon 103k Kronprinzessin Cecilie entering Bar Harbor, Maine, in August 1914, shortly after the outbreak of World War I. She is wearing the funnel colors of the British White Star Line to deceive British cruisers.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 45741    		 Naval Historical Center
    Mount Vernon 81k SS Kronprinzessin Cecilie possibly photographed when she arrived in United States waters in early August 1914, just after the beginning of World War I.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 57750    		 Naval Historical Center
    USS Mount Vernon (ID 4508)
    Mount Vernon 57k Mount Vernon post card issued by the Jewish Welfare Board. Sergio Lugo
    Mount Vernon 94k In port with tugs alongside. This photograph provides an excellent example of the painting-in, painting-out strategem designed to cause identity confusion by 'hiding' recognisable gestures of a ship's structure.
    Photo from "Naval Camouflage 1914-1918: A Complete Visual Reference", by David Williams    		 Robert Hurst
    Mount Vernon 79k U.S. Navy Troop Transports at sea, 10 November 1917. These ships, steaming in convoy from New York City to Brest, France, are (from left to right): Mount Vernon, USS Agamemnon (ID 3004) and USS Von Steuben (ID 3017). The damage to Von Steuben's bow, was the result of a collision with Agamemnon on the previous day.
    Courtesy of Paul Silverstone, 1982.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 57750    		 Naval Historical Center
    Mount Vernon 76k At anchor in port, December 1917.
    Collection of Chief Warrant Officer James B. Dofflemeyer, USN.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 98901    		 Naval Historical Center
    Mount Vernon 97k At Brest, France, 5 May 1918.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 45742    		 Naval Historical Center
    Mount Vernon 77k At anchor, 25 May 1918.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 45743    		 Naval Historical Center
    Mount Vernon 102k At the New York Navy Yard, 8 July 1918, after having been painted in pattern camouflage.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 45747    		 Naval Historical Center
    Mount Vernon 81k 5 September 1918
    Her number two (port side) 5" gun comes into action as the ship turns away from the suspected position of U-82. Gunfire and depth charges helped to keep the submarine under while the damaged trooper made her escape, accompanied by Agamemnon and three of the five escorting destroyers
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo from "Great Liners at War" by Stephen Harding    		 Robert Hurst
    Mount Vernon 111k 5 September 1918
    Even as Captain Dismukes set Mount Vernon on a course for Brest, his damage-control parties were working hard to contain the flooding caused by the torpedo hit. In this photo, sailors at the end of a bucket-brigade line are throwing over the side water that's been brought up from below
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo from "Great Liners at War" by Stephen Harding    		 Robert Hurst
    Mount Vernon 108k 5 September 1918
    With the flooding contained and Mount Vernon apparently out of immediate danger, these understandably elated sailors - some still wearing life jackets - pose for a group photo. The scenes below were far less happy, for the detonation of U-82's torpedo on the troopship's starboard side killed thirty-six crewmen outright and wounded another fifteen
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo from "Great Liners at War" by Stephen Harding    		 Robert Hurst
    Mount Vernon 124k Steaming towards Brest, France, after she had been torpedoed by German submarine U-82 in the eastern Atlantic on 5 September 1918. An escorting destroyer is laying a smoke screen in the background.
    Collection of Lieutenant Commander P.W. Yeatman, USN (Retired).
    U.S. Navy photo NH 89149    		 Naval Historical Center
    Mount Vernon 91k Entering drydock at Brest, France, on 6 September 1918. She had been torpedoed by German submarine U-82 on the previous day.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 45749    		 Naval Historical Center
    Mount Vernon 151k French tugs assisting the Mount Vernon into drydock at Brest, France, on 6 September 1918. USS Prometheus is in the right distance, with U.S. Navy destroyers alongside.
    Naval Historical Center photo NH 45758    		 Robert Hurst
    Mount Vernon 147k In drydock at Brest, France, after she was torpedoed by a German submarine on 5 September 1918. USS Prometheus [Repair Ship No.2] is in the right distance, inside the breakwater.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 157    		 Naval Historical Center
    Mount Vernon 147k Drydocked at Brest, France, after she was torpedoed by German submarine U-82 on 5 September 1918.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 45748    		 Naval Historical Center
    Mount Vernon 115k Hole in the ship's hull made by the German submarine torpedo that hit her on 5 September 1918. Photographed in drydock at Brest, France.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 45744    		 Naval Historical Center
    Mount Vernon 125k Halftone reproduction of a heavily-retouched photograph taken circa 1917-1919. This image was published in 1918-1919 as one of ten photographs in a "Souvenir Folder" of views concerning the ship and her 5 September 1918 torpedoing.
    Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2006.
    Naval Historical Center photo NH 103934    		 Robert Hurst
    Mount Vernon 148k Halftone reproduction of a photograph showing the ship in dry dock at Brest, France, after she was torpedoed by German Submarine U-82 on 5 September 1918.
    Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2006.
    Naval Historical Center photo NH 103941    		 Robert Hurst
    Mount Vernon 144k Panoramic photograph of the ship's officers and crew, posed alongside and on board, 1918.
    Donation of James R. Nilo, 1961.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 45767    		 Naval Historical Center
    Mount Vernon 78k At Boston, Massachusetts, 7 February 1919.
    Photographed by Crosby, 11 Portland St., Boston.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 63146    		 Naval Historical Center
    Mount Vernon 187k Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels with Mrs. Daniels and Navy officers, on board the Mount Vernon during the voyage from Brest, France, to New York, 16 May 1919. Those present include (left to right, seated): Captain Douglas E. Dismukes, ship's Commanding Officer; Mrs. Josephus Daniels; and Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels. (left to right, standing): Rear Admiral Ralph Earl; Rear Admiral R.S. Griffin; Rear Admiral David W. Taylor; and Commander Percy W. Foote, Aide to the Secretary.
    Naval Historical Center photo NH 56927    		 Bill Gonyo
    Mount Vernon 78k Coming up Boston Harbor in 1919, surrounded by small craft.
    Photographed by Alton Blackinton, Boston.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 45750    		 Naval Historical Center
    Mount Vernon 85k Coming up Boston Harbor with elements of the 26th Division on board, in 1919. She is convoyed by craft of the First Naval District.
    Photographed by Alton Blackinton, Boston.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 45751    		 Naval Historical Center
    USAT Mount Vernon
    Mount Vernon 113k Mount Vernon moored outboard of the Navy hospital ship Comfort, at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 2 January 1920.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 45744    		 Naval Historical Center
    Mount Vernon 80k Mount Vernon at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 2 January 1920.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 45745    		 Naval Historical Center
    Mount Vernon 56k Mount Vernon at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, with a U.S. Coast Guard cutter tied up to her port side, circa January 1920.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 45746    		 Naval Historical Center
    Mount Vernon 99k Mount Vernon maneuvering in the channel off the Mare Island Navy Yard, January 1920.
    Donation of Rear Admiral Ammen Farenholt, USN (Medical Corps), 1932.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 63108    		 Naval Historical Center
    Mount Vernon 124k Mount Vernon moored outboard of the Navy hospital ship Comfort, at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, in January 1920.
    Photograph from the William H. Topley Collection; courtesy of Charles M. Loring, 1970.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 71246    		 Naval Historical Center
    Mount Vernon 140k Nine of Submarine Division 8's ten "O" type submarines, Commanded by Commander Guy E. Davis at the Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, Massachusetts, 16 August 1921. Submarines in the front row are (from left to right): O-3 (SS-64), O-6 (SS-67), O-9 (SS-70) and O-1 (SS-62). Those in the second row are (from left to right): O-7 (SS-68), unidentified (either O-2 or O-8), O-5 (SS-66), O-10 (SS-71) and O-4 (SS-65). Large four-stacked ship in the left center distance is the Mount Vernon.
    Panoramic photograph by Crosby, "Naval Photographer", 11 Portland Street, Boston.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 71246    		 Naval Historical Center
    Agamemnon 149k c. 1939
    In the Patuxent River off Solomons Island, MD, four ex-German liners are laid up from left to right USAT Monticello, ex-USS Agamemnon (ID 3004; Mount Vernon; USAT America, ex-USS America (ID 3006) and USAT George Washington, ex-USS George Washington (ID 3018)    		 Joe Radigan
    View the Mount Vernon (ID 4508)
    DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway web site.
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