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Identification Numbered Vessel Photo Archive

West Mead (ID 3550)



Civilian call sign (1919):
Love - Nan - Mike - Watch

San Angelo call sign (1933):
William - Dog - Interrogatory - Option
Freighter:

  • Built in 1918 as War Dido by the Ames Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Seattle, WA
  • Renamed West Mead prior to completion
  • Acquired by the Navy 29 October 1918 and commissioned USS West Mead (ID 3550) the same day
  • Decommissioned 9 June 1919, returned to the United States Shipping Board and struck from the Navy Register
  • Sold in 1927 to the Babcock Steamship Co. of New York and renamed Willanglo
  • Sold in 1929 to the Pacific-Atlantic Steamship Co. of Portland, OR and renamed San Angelo
  • Sold in 1940 to the Ministry of War Transport, London, England, managed by W. A. Souter and Co. of Newcastle and renamed Empire Springbuck
  • Torpedoed and sunk 9 September 1941 off Cape Farewell, Greenland by the German submarine U-81 while on passage from Cuba to Leith, Scotland via Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 12,225 t.
    1933 - 5,605 t.
  • Length 423' 9"
    1933 - 409.5'
  • Beam 54'
    1933 - 54.2'
  • Depth of hold 29' 9"
  • Draft 24' 2"
    1933 - 27.4'
  • Speed 10.5 kts.
  • Complement 70
    1933 - 39
  • Propulsion : Three single ended boilers, one 2,760hp vertical triple expansion steam engine, one shaft.
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