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Identification Numbered Vessel Photo Archive

Bellingham (ID 3552)



Bellingham civilian call sign:
Love - Nan - Mike - Pup



Nevastroi call sign:
Unit - Option - Baker - Fox
Bellingham Class Freighter:

  • Built in August 1918 as War Herald by the Seattle Construction and Dry Dock Co., Seattle, WA
  • Acquired by the Navy 24 October 1918
  • Commissioned USS Bellingham (ID 3552), 30 October 1918
  • Decommissioned 10 May 1919 at Brooklyn, NY and returned to the United States Shipping Board (USSB) the same day
  • Laid up 24 July 1923 at Camp Eustis, VA
  • It was included in the sale of 29 surplus USSB ships to the Soviet Union in 1929 and 1930
  • The Soviets renamed the ship Nevastroi and placed it in service in the Far East
  • In the late 1930s Nevastroi gained infamy as one of Stalin's "slave ships" moving prisoners to the Kolyma Gulag in far northeastern Siberia
  • Nevastroi served on Lend Lease duties in the Pacific in WWII and was overhauled in the U.S. during that time
  • Possibly lost 16 August 1945 after striking a mine
  • Deleted from 1959/1960 edition of Lloyd's Registry of Shipping.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 10,800 t.
  • Length 396'
  • Beam 53'
  • Draft 23' 9"
  • Speed 10.5 kts.
  • Complement 70
  • Propulsion: Three single ended boilers, one 2,300hp verticle triple expansion steam engine, one shaft.
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    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    No image of Bellingham (ID 3552) is available at this time
    Commanding Officers
    01CDR Charles Olaf W. Lofstrom, USNRF30 October 1918 - 1919
    02LCDR William J. Johnson, USNRF1919
    Courtesy Joe Radigan and Wolfgang Hechler
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships:

    Bellingham

    Bellingham is a city in Washington.

    Bellingham, a cargo vessel, was built in 1918 by Seattle Construction and Dry Dock Co., Seattle, Wash., under a Shipping Board contract; transferred to the Navy 30 October 1918; and commissioned the same day, Commander C. O. W. Lofstrom, USNRF, in command.

    Bellingham was assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service and as her first duty carried a cargo of nitrate from Arica, Chile, to the east coast. She then carried rails and cotton from Charleston,
    S. C., to Europe. Upon her return Bellingham was decommissioned 10 May 1919 at Brooklyn, N. Y., and returned to the Shipping Board the same day.

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