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NavSource Online: Civilian Vessel Photo Archive

USAT Edmund B. Alexander
ex-USAT America
ex-USS America (ID 3006)
ex-USS Amerika


Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from left to right
World War I Victory Medal (with Transport clasp)

Transport: Laid down in 1904 as Amerika by Harland and Wolff, Ltd., Belfast, Ireland; Launched 20 April 1905; Seized by United States Shipping Board (USSB) 25 July 1917; Commissioned, USS Amerika (ID 3006), 6 August 1917, at the Boston Navy Yard, Boston, MA.; Renamed America 1 September 1917; Decommissioned 26 September 1919 at Hoboken, NJ and simultaneously commissioned into the U.S. Army Transportation Service as USAT America; Returned to the USSB in 1920; Refurbished for passenger service and placed back in commercial service 22 June 1921; Laid up at Point Patience, MD in 1931; Placed in service as USAT Edmund B. Alexander in October 1940 by the U.S. Army Transportation Service; Placed in reserve 28 January 1951 at Hawkin's Point, MD; Sold for scrap 16 January 1967 to the Bethlehem Steel Co. of Baltimore, MD.

Specifications: Displacement 41,500 t.; Length 687'; Beam 75' 5"; Draft 39' 5"; Speed 17.5 kts.(max.); Complement 994; Armament four 6" gun mount, two 1-pounders, two .30 cal. Colt machine guns, one .30 cal. Lewis machine gun, nine depth charges; Propulsion steam turbines, two shafts.


Click On Image For Full Size PhotoSize Image Description Source
SS Amerika
America 151k Photographed prior to World War I.
U.S. Navy photo NH 57603
Naval Historical Center
USS America (ID 3006)
America 70k Photographed circa 1917, possibly while being prepared for U.S. Navy service.
U.S. Navy photo NH 94203
Naval Historical Center
America 133k At Boston, Massachusetts, 1917, with her topsides crowded with men. USN Derrick Barge 13 is at left, and USN Coal Barge 52 is alongside America in the right center.
Panoramic photograph by the George Photo Company, Boston.
Donation of Eleanor M. Anderson, 1975.
U.S. Navy photo NH 98237
Naval Historical Center
America 164k The ex-German passenger vessel Amerika, at the Boston Navy Yard, 14 August 1917 shortly after seizure by USSB undergoing conversion for Naval service.
U.S. Navy photo from DANFS
Joe Radigan, MACM, USN, Ret.
America 161k View on deck, taken at the Boston Navy Yard, Massachusetts, on 17 October 1917, after completion of conversion to a troopship. View looks aft from her midships superstructure, with cargo-handling booms and winches in the foreground.
U.S. Navy photo NH 57601
Naval Historical Center
America 120k Sunk at Hoboken, New Jersey, circa October-November 1918. America had accidently sunk at her dock on 15 October 1918. Raised on 21 November, she was repaired and returned to transport service in February 1919.
Donation of John G. Krieger, 1967.
U.S. Navy photo NH 57604
Naval Historical Center
America 129k Under salvage at Hoboken, New Jersey, circa October-November 1918. She accidently sank at her pier on 15 October 1918.
Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, Washington, D.C. Collection of Admiral Albert Gleaves, USN.
Naval Historical Center photo NH 103244
Robert Hurst
America 149k Under salvage at Hoboken, New Jersey, circa October-November 1918. She accidently sank at her pier on 15 October 1918. This photograph provides a close-up view of the ship's port side, amidships, showing men on her deck, signal flags drying and laundry hanging from railings, smokestack stays and other locations.
Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, Washington, D.C. Collection of Admiral Albert Gleaves, USN.
Naval Historical Center photo NH 103245
Robert Hurst
America 116k USS Don Juan de Austria, in the foreground. Leading America up Boston Harbor, Massachusetts, on 5 April 1919.
U.S. Navy photo NH 54586
Naval Historical Center
America 87k Steaming up Boston Harbor, Massachusetts, upon arrival from France with troops of the 26th Division on board, 5 April 1919.
U.S. Navy photo NH 57602
Naval Historical Center
America 123k Photographed circa 1919.
U.S. Navy photo NH 78268
Naval Historical Center
America 103k Underway in 1919.
Courtesy of Boatswain's Mate First Class Robert G. Tippins, USN (Retired), 2005.
Naval Historical Center photo NH 102869
Robert Hurst
USAT America
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; USAT Mount Vernon, ex-USS Mount Vernon (ID 4508); America and USAT George Washington, ex-USS George Washington (ID 3018)
Joe Radigan
USAT Edmund B. Alexander
America 146k In port, following World War II.
Donation of Captain Stephen S. Roberts, USNR (Retired), 2007.
Naval Historical Center photo NH 104966
Robert Hurst
America 123k Edmund B. Alexander underway near Boston Light, Massachusetts, 6 January 1945. Photographed from a Squadron ZP-11 blimp.
National Archives photo 80-G-301393
Naval Historical Center
America 119k In port, circa 1945-1946.
Donation of Captain Stephen S. Roberts, USNR (Retired), 2007.
Naval Historical Center photo NH 104968
Robert Hurst

View the America (ID 3006) DANFS History.
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This page created by Gary P. Priolo and maintained by Joe Radigan
© 2005 Gary P. Priolo © 1996 - 2005 NavSource Naval History. All Rights Reserved.