Please report any broken links or trouble you might come across to the Webmaster. Please take a moment to let us know so that we can correct any problems and make your visit as enjoyable and as informative as possible.

NavSource Online:
Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive

Imperator (ID 4080)

Transport: Built in 1910 by Vulcan Works, Hamburg, Germany; Acquired by the Navy 5 May 1919 and commissioned USS Imperator (ID 4080) the same day at Brest, France; Decommissioned 24 November 1919 at New York and transferred to the British Ministry of Shipping the same day; Renamed Berengaria and put back into the north Atlantic passenger trade. Later, she was also used for warm weather cruising to Bermuda and the Caribbean. Plagued by electrical fires beginning in the mid-1930s, she had to be withdrawn from service in 1938. Sold for scrapping prior to the outbreak of World War II, but was not completely dismantled until 1946.

Specifications: Displacement 51,969 t.; Length 906'; Beam 98' 3"; Draft 35' 2"; Speed 23.5 kts.; Complement unknown; Armament none.

Click On Image
For Full Size Image		 Size Image Description Source
SS Imperator
Imperator 112k At anchor, circa 1913.
U.S. Navy photo NH 41938.		 Naval Historical Center
Imperator 100k "The Hamburg American liner Imperator, which was turned over to the U.S. Navy to be used as a transport as the result of the agreement made at Brussels between the German and Allied representatives. Imperator is the third largest vessel now afloat, being of 52,000 tons. This photo was made on her arrival in New York in 1913 on her maiden voyage. She was tied up in Hamberg during the war." (quoted from the original 1919 caption).
U.S. Navy photo NH 53223.		 Naval Historical Center
Imperator 132k In port in 1913, before she lost her massive eagle figurehead and had her smokestacks reduced in height.
Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2006
Naval Historical Center photo NH 103645		 Robert Hurst
USS Imperator (ID 4080)
Imperator 111k Imperator, at left, and USS Leviathan (ID 1326) at Hoboken, New Jersey, probably after Imperator's first trans-Atlantic voyage as a U.S. Navy ship, circa late May 1919. At that time, these were the World's largest ships, hence the photo's title: "The 'Giants' of the Sea".
Panoramic photograph by Picot, 15 4th Avenue, Brooklyn, New York.
Donation of Georgia Adams Grann and Caryl L. Adams, 2005. The original print came from the collection of their father, George W. Adams, who enlisted in the Navy in 1908.
U.S. Navy photo NH 103126.		 Naval Historical Center
Imperator 100k At Hoboken, New Jersey, probably after her first trans-Atlantic voyage as a US Navy ship, circa late May 1919.
Panoramic photograph by Picot, 15 4th Avenue, brooklyn, New York.
Donation of George Adams Grann and Caryl L. Adams, 2005. The original print came from the collection of their father, George W. Adams, who enlisted in the Navy in 1908
Naval Historical Center photo NH 103126-A		 Robert Hurst
Imperator 112k Halftone reproduction of a photograph showing the ship underway in 1919, while she was employed bringing U.S. service personnel home from Europe.
Courtesy of William H. Davis, 1977.
U.S. Navy photo NH 85172.		 Naval Historical Center
Imperator 112k In harbor, with tugs alongside, 1919.
Donation of Staff Sergeant Craig Ingersoll, USMC, 1980.
U.S. Navy photo NH 99104.		 Naval Historical Center
Imperator 64k Off Manhattan Island, New York City, in 1919.
U.S. Navy photo NH 94.		 Naval Historical Center
Imperator 111k In port, possibly at New York City in 1919 while she was serving as USS Imperator (ID 4080).
U.S. Navy photo NH 99379.		 Naval Historical Center
SS Berengaria
Imperator 112k Berengaria in harbor, during the 1920s or 1930s.
U.S. Navy photo NH 697.		 Naval Historical Center
View the Imperator (ID 4080)
DANFS history entry located on the Naval Historical Center web site
Back To The Main Photo Index Back to the Auxiliary Ship Index Back to the Identification Numbered Civilian Ships (ID) Photo Index
Comments, Suggestions, E-mail Webmaster
This page created and maintained by Joseph M. Radigan
© 2006 Joseph M. Radigan © 1996 - 2006 NavSource Naval History. All Rights Reserved.