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Identification Numbered Ships Photo Archive

Nansemond (ID 1395)

Civilian call sign:
Love - Have - Mike - Jig

Call sign (Early 1919):
George - Jig - Boy - Nan

Call sign (1919):
Nan - Item - Tare - Love

Nansemond served both the U. S. Army and Navy

Freighter:

The second Nansemond was built in 1896 as Pennsylvania by Harland and Wolff, Belfast, Northern Ireland

Renamed Nansemond by the United States Shipping Board (USSB)

Acquired by the U.S. Army in 1917

Acquired by the Navy 20 January 1919 and commissioned USS Nansemond (ID 1395) at Hoboken, NJ

Decommissioned 25 August 1919 at New York and returned to the USSB

Scrapped in 1924.

Specifications:

Displacement 25,000 t.

Length 559' 5"

Beam 62' 2"

Draft 32' 8"

Speed 13 kts.

Complement 399

Armament: Two 6"/40 and two 3"/50 mounts

Propulsion: Three double ended and two single ended boilers, two 2,750hp vertical quadruple expansion steam engines, two shafts.

Click on thumbnail for full size image	Size	Image Description	Source
SS Pennsylvania
	107k	Undated post card	Tommy Trampp
	197k	Hamburg America Line cargo liner Pennsylvania, underway off New York sometime between 1896 and 1900 Library of Congress photo det. 4a15907 by John S. Johnston (1839-1899) for the Detroit Publishing Co. (Photo 022376)	Robert Hurst
	98k	Post card postmarked 15 March 1902, Hamburg	Tommy Trampp
	215k	c. 1910 The German Steamship Pennsylvania was owned by the German, Hamburg-America Line and made trips back and forth from New York and Hamburg. It was one of the steamships that they had built a take off ramp to have J.A.D. McCurdy, the most famous Canadian pilot of the day, fly his Curtiss pusher from to shore. They were looking at possibly getting a contract to transport mail. The flight was scheduled for November 5, 1910 in New York Harbor. Bad weather prevented the historic first flight of an airplane from a ship and then the airplane was damaged when being removed from the ship to the dock. The ship had a schedule to keep and had to sail. Nine days later on November 14, 1910, Eugene B. Ely flew his Curtiss pusher off the USS Birmingham (CL-2) at Hampton Roads, Virginia and made history for the first ship to shore flight. A few months later on January 18, 1911, Ely would again make history on another ship named Pennsylvania when he made the first landing in history on the USS Pennsylvania in San Francisco Bay. Later when World War I broke out the German Steamship Pennsylvania was seized and later became the troop transport Nansemond that would bring our troops back after the war Photo from the George Grantham Bain Collection Library of Congress Prints and Photographic Division	Tom Kerman
	176k	c. 1910 Photo from the George Grantham Bain Collection Library of Congress Prints and Photographic Division
	154k
	296k	16 February 1911 The famous Canadian pilot J.A.D. McCurdy in his Curtiss pusher. He was the first person to fly an 'aeroplane' over British soil, but missed being the first pilot to take off from a ship. Eugene B. Ely flew off the cruiser USS Birmingham (CL-2) nine days later on November 14, 1910 and into the history of Naval Aviation Photo from the George Grantham Bain Collection Library of Congress Prints and Photographic Division
USS Nansemond (ID 1395)
	76k	Vintage Cabinet Card photo	Tommy Trampp
	113k	Photographed circa 1917-1918, after installation of guns U.S. Navy photo NH 102051	Naval Historical Center
	100k	Photographed with troops on board in 1919, probably while arriving in a U.S. East Coast port at the end of a voyage from Europe Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2005 Naval Historical Center photo NH 103076	Robert Hurst
	95k	In port in 1919, while employed transporting U.S. service personnel home from Europe Photographed by Holladay, Newport News, Virginia Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2007 Naval Historical Center photo NH 104809	Robert Hurst
	97k	Photo from the 10 July 1919 edition of Hospital Corps Quarterly	Michael Rhode