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Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive

USAT Maui
ex-USS Maui (ID 1514)



Civilian call sign (1919):
Love - George - Tare - Have


Maui served both the U. S. Navy during World War I and the Army during World War II.

Transport:

  • Built in 1917 by Union Iron Works, San Francisco, CA
  • Acquired by the Navy and commissioned USS Maui (ID 1514), 6 March 1918
  • Decommissioned in September 1919 and returned to her owner
  • Acquired by the Army in December 1941 as USAT Maui
  • Transferred to the Maritime Administration in 1945
  • Scrapped in 1948.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 9,730 t.
  • Length 501'
  • Beam 58'
  • Draft 30' 2"
  • Speed 18 kts.
  • Armament: Four 6" mounts, two 1-pounders and two machine guns
  • Propulsion: Two 5,000ihp steam engines, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    SS Maui
    Maui 71k Photographed in 1917 in Matson Line colors, possibly while on trials.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 102021    		 Naval Historical Center
    Maui 49k Photographed prior to her World War I era Naval service
    Naval Historical Center photo NH 99594    		 Robert Hurst
    USS Maui (ID 1514)
    Maui 83k Photo of Maui from a Post Card. Randle M. Biddle
    Maui 79k Off New York City with troops on board, 25 January 1919.
    Courtesy of the Caraway Company, Rutterford, New Jersey, 1936.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 60645    		 Naval Historical Center
    Maui 129k Post card dated 13 July 1919 from York, PA Tommy Trampp
    Maui 93k In port, 1919.
    Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2005.
    Naval Historical Center photo NH 102945    		 Robert Hurst
    Maui 72k Maui is greeted by local coin divers as she arrives at a Pacific Ocean port, circa the mid-1920s.
    Courtesy of Mrs. Donald Shull, 1976.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 85125    		 Naval Historical Center
    Maui 103k Photographed on 15 November 1922.
    Courtesy of the San Francisco Maritime Museum, San Francisco, California, 1972.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 76071
    SS Maui
    Maui 137k Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii. Aerial view, looking west, with the supply depot in upper center, 13 October 1941. Part of the Submarine Base is at lower left; the Navy Yard is in the upper left; and Ford Island is in the top right.USS Holland is at left, at the Submarine Base. Alongside her are submarines Sturgeon (SS-187), Spearfish (SS-190), Saury (SS-189), Seal (SS-183) and Sargo (SS-188). USS
    Niagara (PG-52)     is alongside the wharf, ahead of Holland. Ships docked at the supply depot, upper center, are USS Oglala (CM-4) and the S.S. Maui. Among the ships at the piers in the extreme upper left are USS Indianapolis (CA-35), USS San Francisco (CA-38) and USS Antares (AG-10). The two battleships moored by Ford Island, in upper right, are (left) USS Oklahoma (BB-37) and (right) USS Arizona (BB-39).
    National Archives photo 80-G-451131    		 Naval Historical Center
    USAT Maui
    Maui 90k Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken while the ship was leaving port during World War II
    Copied from the book "Troopships of World War II", by Roland W. Charles.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 99616    		 Naval Historical Center
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships:

    Maui

    An island in the south-central Hawaiian group named for the chief mythological hero of the Polynesians. Maui is credited with snaring the sun, controlling the winds, introducing fire, and fishing up the eastern Pacific island group from the sea.

    The first Maui, a troop transport, was built by Union Iron Works, San Francisco, Calif., in 1917; acquired by the Navy from the Matson Navigation Co., San Francisco, 6 March 1918 ; and commissioned the same day.

    Assigned to transatlantic duty, Maui served with the Cruiser and Transport Force through World War I, carrying troops to France and returning from Europe with passengers and the sick and wounded, Following the Armistice. she decommissioned and was returned to her owner.

    During World War II Maui operated under the Quartermaster Corps, U.S. Army, from 1942 into 1943 before she was turned over to the Maritime Administration for disposal by 1945.

    (Addendum to DANFS): Maui, a 9730-ton (gross) passenger steamship, was built in 1917 at San Francisco, California. After less than a year's service on her intended route between the U.S. west coast and Hawaii she was taken over by the Navy in March 1918 and commissioned as USS Maui (ID 1514). Returned to her owners in September 1919, she resumed her eastern Pacific voyages, as an important part of Hawaii's link to the U.S. mainland. The depressed economic conditions of the 1930s caused her to be laid up at San Francisco, California, in 1933. A year later she was converted to a freighter.

    In November 1941, Maui suffered a collision in San Francisco Bay and a month later was purchased by the U.S. Army became the USAT Maui. She began Army transport work late in 1941 with a trip to Honolulu, and continued operations in the Pacific through World War II. In addition to voyages to Hawaii, she carried personnel and cargo to Alaska, the south and southwest Pacific, the Philippines and Japan. Maui completed this work in early 1946 and was laid up in mid-year at Olympia, Washington. She was scrapped in 1948.

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