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Identification Numbered Vessel Photo Archive

West Cobalt (ID 3836)



Civilian call sign (1919):
Love - Pup - Dog - Rush
Freighter:

  • Built in 1918 by the Columbia River Shipbuilding Co., Portland, OR
  • Acquired by the Navy 29 December 1918 and commissioned USS West Cobalt (ID 3836) the same day at Puget Sound Navy Yard Bremerton, WA
  • Decommissioned 6 May 1919 and returned to the United States Shipping Board
  • Sold in 1933 to the Lykes Brothers, Ripley Steamship Co., Inc.
  • Sold to the British Government in 1940 and renamed Empire Miniver
  • Torpedoed and sunk 18 October 1940 by the German submarine U-99 off Rathlin Head, Northern Ireland.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 12,225 t.
  • Length 423' 9"
  • Beam 54'
  • Depth of hold 29' 9"
  • Draft 24' 2½"
  • Speed 10 kts.
  • Complement 60
  • Propulsion: Three single ended boilers, one 2,500shp General Electric geared steam turbine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USS West Cobalt (ID 3836)
    West Cobalt 108k Post card postmarked 19 April 1919 at Devonport, England. The sender was on the ship moored behind her
    Photo from Shipscribe.com    		 Robert Hurst
    SS West Cobalt
    West Cobalt 25k Photo courtesy of Library of Contemporary History, Stuttgart, Germany Robert Hurst
    West Cobalt 30k Crossing the North Atlantic Tommy Trampp
    View the West Cobalt (ID 3836)
    DANFS history entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command website
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