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Civilian Identification Numbered Ships Photo Archive

Severance (ID 2063)



Civilian call sign (1919):
Love - George - Have - Dog
Freighter:

  • Built in 1909 as Gladstone by Ropner and Sons, Stockton-on-Tees, England
  • Renamed Martin Quezada, Nords Kov and Severance
  • Acquired by the Navy 9 August 1918
  • Commissioned USS Severance (ID 2063), 19 August 1918 at New York
  • Decommissioned 3 March 1919 at Philadelphia, PA and transferred to the United States Shipping Board for return to her owner
  • Renamed Yankee Sword in 1941
  • Scrapped in 1948 at Philadelphia.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 9,769 t.
  • Length 378' 3"
  • Beam 53'
  • Draft 23' 6"
  • Depth of hold 27' 3"
  • Speed 10 kts.
  • Complement 62
  • Propulsion: Two single ended and one auxiliary boiler, one 1,800hp vertical triple expansion steam engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Severance 54k In port, probably at New York when she was inspected there on 21 November 1917
    Naval Historical Center photo NH 105233    		 Robert Hurst
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships History: Severance was built during 1909 by Ropner & Sons, Stockton-on-Tees, England, as the steel, single-screw freighter, Gladstone; was subsequently renamed Martin Quezada and, still later, Severance, was acquired by the United States Navy on 9 August 1918 from the Union Sulphur Co., of New York City, for service in World War I, and commissioned at New York on 19 August 1918, Lt. Comdr. J. F. Bock, USNRF, in command.

    Assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS), Severance, carrying locomotives and general cargo, departed Norfolk on 7 September 1918 in convoy for Brest, France. Subsequent to returning to New York on 2 November, she sailed on 4 December for her only postwar transatlantic voyage for NOTS. She reached Quiberon Bay on the 23d and proceeded to St. Nazaire.

    Departing that port on 25 January 1919, Severance called at Bermuda before arriving at Philadelphia on 25 February. She was decommissioned and transferred to the United States Shipping Board on 3 March 1919 for simultaneous return to her owner at Pier 78, South Wharf, Philadelphia.

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