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West Elcajon (ID 3907)



Civilian call sign (1919):
Love - Pup - Quack - Jig
Freighter:

  • Built in 1918 by the Skinner and Eddy Corp., Seattle, WA
  • Acquired by the Navy 18 January 1919 and commissioned USS West Elcajon (ID 3907) the same day at the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, WA
  • Decommissioned 26 May 1919 at New York and returned to the United States Shipping Board (USSB)
  • Sold in 1928 to the Oceanic and Oriental Navigation Co. and renamed Golden Kauri
  • Sold in 1939 to the Matson Navigation Line and renamed Waipio
  • Sold in 1946 to the Compania Paralos de Vapores, S.A. of Panama and renamed Paralos II and remained in service until the mid-1950s
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 12,226 t.
  • Length 423' 9"
  • Beam 54'
  • Depth of hold 29' 9"
  • Draft 24' 2"
  • Speed 11.5 kts.
  • Complement 60
  • Propulsion: Three single ended boilers, one General Electric steam turbine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    West Elcajon (ID 3907)
    West Elcajon 63k Launching ceremony, at the Skinner & Eddy shipyard, Seattle, Washington, circa late 1918
    U.S. Navy photo NH 48484    		 Naval Historical Center
    West Elcajon 72k Afloat soon after launching, at the Skinner & Eddy shipyard, Seattle, Washington, circa late 1918
    U.S. Navy photo NH 65043
    West Elcajon 86k Fitting out at the Skinner & Eddy shipyard, Seattle, Washington, circa late 1918. Barge General Petroleum Co. No. 4 is in the right foreground
    U.S. Navy photo NH 48485
    West Elcajon 214k National Archives photo 165-WW 499 121 by the USSB Mike Mohl
    Photo added 18 October 2020
    SS Golden Kauri
    West Elcajon 71k Underway sometime between 1928 and 1939
    Photo by Allen C. Green, courtesy of State Library of Victoria, Australia    		 Robert Hurst
    West Elcajon 192k Golden Kauri with a cargo of Canadian timber on deck, South Wharf, Melbourne, Australia, 30 September 1937
    Photo from the Australian newspaper The Age, 1 October 1937
    View the West Elcajon (ID 3907)
    DANFS history entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command website
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