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Identification Numbered Ships Photo Archive

North Pole (ID 3791)



Civilian call sign (1919):
Love - Pup - Have - Fox
Refrigerated Freighter:

  • Built in 1918 by the Baltimore Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Baltimore, MD
  • Commissioned 12 December 1918 at Baltimore
  • Delivered to the Navy 10 January 1919
  • Decommissioned 14 April 1919 at Jersey City, NJ and returned to the United States Shipping Board (USSB)
  • Scrapped in 1937.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 8,785 t.
  • Length 353' 3"
  • Beam 49'
  • Draft 23'
  • Speed 11.25 kts.
  • Complement 76
  • Propulsion: Three single ended boilers, one 1,800shp Westinghouse steam turbine with reduction gear, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    North Pole 41k Probably shown around the time of her completion in December 1918
    Naval Historical Center photo NH 65111    		 Robert Hurst
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships: North Pole (ID 3791), a refrigerator ship, was built by the Baltimore Drydock & Shipbuilding Co.; taken over by USSB for transfer to the Navy; and commissioned at Baltimore 10 January 1919, Lt. Comdr. Thomas H. McKellum, USNRF, in command.

    After refitting, North Pole proceeded to New York, loaded a cargo of beef for the A[llied] E[xpeditionary] F[orces], and sailed for France 2 February 1919. She discharged her cargo at St. Nazaire, departing for home 19 March with a cargo of Navy stores, arriving 5 April.

    North Pole decommissioned and was returned to USSB 14 April 1919 at Jersey City, N.J.

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