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Identification Numbered Vessel Photo Archive

Howick Hall (ID 1303)



Civilian call sign (1919):
Love - Dog - Quack - Fox


Howick Hall served both the U. S. Army and the Navy

Freighter:

  • Built in 1910 by William Hamilton Co., Port Glasgow, Scotland for C. G. Dunn of Liverpool, England
  • Launched 1 October 1910
  • Sold in 1914 to United States Steel Products of New York
  • Sold in 1915 to the Isthmain Line
  • Acquired by the Army in September 1917
  • Acquired by the Navy 24 August 1918 at Baltimore, MD and commissioned the same day
  • Decommissioned 13 March 1919 at Baltimore and returned to her owners the same day
  • Renamed Doverden in 1929
  • Sold in 1930 to the Exeter Shipping Co. of London, England
  • Sold in 1931 to the McAllum Steamship Co. of London
  • Sold in 1932 to the Lambert Brothers of London
  • Sold in 1935 to H. Constant of London
  • Sold for scrap in 1935 but bought by Italian owners Ditta Luigi Pittaluga Vapori of Genoa and renamed Ircania
  • Sold in 1937 to the S.A. Cooperativa di Nav Garibaldi of Genoa and used as a supply ship in the Abyssinian war
  • Acquired by the Maritime Commission 24 June 1941 at Jacksonville, FL and renamed Raceland
  • Transferred 31 December 1941 to the South Atlantic Line
  • Bombed and sunk south of Bear Island, 28 March 1942 by German bombers at position 72° 40' N., 20° 20' E., while member of Convoy PQ-13 en route from Boston, MA via Reykjavik, Iceland for
    Murmansk, Soviet Union. Two of four lifeboats launched lost in heavy seas. Remaining two finally reached the coast of Norway, after constant rowing, with 22 men dead from the cold.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 8,097 t.
  • Length 413'
  • Beam 51' 6"
  • Draft 25' 11"
  • Speed 10 kts.
  • Complement 91
  • Propulsion: Two 1,150ihp triple expansion steam engines manufactured by David Rowan and Co. of Glasgow, Scotland, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Howick Hall 46k Clyde Built Ships
    Howick Hall 87k In New York harbor, prior to World War I
    U.S. Navy photo NH 96308    		 Naval Historical Center
    Howick Hall 88k Photographed circa 1917
    Naval Historical Center photo NH 105600    		 Robert Hurst
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships: Howick Hall was built by William Hamilton Co., Port Glasgow, Scotland, in 1910. Acquired from her owners, the U.S. Steel Products Co., she commissioned at Baltimore on 24 August 1918, Lt. Comdr. Gust E. Jonsson in command.

    After loading cargo at Baltimore, Howick Hall joined a convoy at New York and from there sailed to St. Nazaire,France, reaching that port on 30 September. She discharged cargo and on 31 October was back at Baltimore. Her second transatlantic voyage began at Newport News, where she loaded cargo for La Verdun Roads, France, on 25 December. From there Howick Hall went to Bassens for fuel, and on 3 February 1919, sailed for the States. However, a case of spinal meningitis in the crew necessitated her stopping at Bermuda on 21 February.

    Ship and crew were placed in quarantine and denied communication with the island until they sailed for Baltimore on 25 February. Howick Hall arrived at Baltimore via Newport News on 5 March and decommissioned there 13 March 1919.

    She was returned to her former owners the same day.

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