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Unnumbered Ships Photo Archive

USAHS Ernestine Koranda
ex-USAT Eddelyn
ex-USS Eddelyn



Navy call sign (Early 1919):
George - Jig - Dog - Quack

Call sign (Late 1919):
Nan - Easy - Dog - Vice



Civilian call sign (1919):
Love - Rush - Jig - Watch

Eddelyn served both the U. S. Navy and Army

Transport:

  • Laid down 5 June 1918 as Eddelyn by Sun Shipbuilding Co., Chester, PA
  • Launched 4 January 1919
  • Delivered 15 July 1919
  • Acquired by the Navy 18 July 1919 and commissioned USS Eddelyn the same day at Philadelphia, PA
  • Decommissioned 4 September 1919
  • Struck from the Navy Register and transferred to the War Department 12 September 1919 as USAT Eddelyn
  • Acquired by the Luckenbach Steamship Co. in 1932 and renamed Dorothy Luckenbach
  • Acquired by the Army in 1944 and renamed USAHS Ernestine Koranda
  • Transferred to the Department of Commerce in 1950 and renamed Dorothy Luckenbach
  • Broken up in 1957 at Learner Co. of San Francisco, CA.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 8,713 t.
  • Length 448' 9"
  • Length between perpendiculars 499'
  • Beam 60'
  • Draft 28' 2"
  • Complement 50
  • Propulsion: Two 2,500hp steam engines, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    SS Dorothy Luckenbach
    Eddelyn 155k Passing under the St. John's Bridge at Portland, Oregon
    Photo from "Hospital Ships of World War II: An Illustrated Reference" by Emory A. Massman    		 Robert Hurst
    USS Eddelyn
    Eddelyn 192k Arriving at New York on 4 September 1919, while transporting U.S. troops home from Europe. She is being assisted by two U.S. Army tugs
    Panoramic photograph by Head-Mayberry, 488 7th Avenue, New York
    Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2009
    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 106628    		 Robert Hurst
    USAHS Ernestine Koranda
    Eddelyn 126k Namesake: 2nd Lieutenant Ernestine May Koranda was born 30 May 1912 in Lesterville, South Dakota. A graduate of the Ancker Hospital School of Nursing in St. Paul, Minnesota, Koranda enlisted in the Army Nurses Corps in 1942. In 1943, she was serving at the Army's 12th Station Hospital in Townsville, [Queensland, Australia].

    She was killed in the crash of a C-47 transport on its way from Townsville to Brisbane, [Queensland, Australia] 19 December 1943. The aircraft exploded and disintegrated in the air about 30 miles NW of Rockhampton, [Queensland, Australia]. All 31 aboard were killed, including three nurses. This was the second worst crash in Australian aviation history. Sadly, Koranda was on her way to Sydney [New South Wales, Australia] to wed her fiancee. She is buried in Wadena Cemetery, Wadena, Minnesota

    Photo: Army Nurse Ernestine Koranda, who was among those who lost their lives in the line of duty, at home before leaving for Australia. She was honored by the U.S. Army who bestowed her name on the former freighter SS Dorothy Luckenbach, ex-Eddelyn
    Photo courtesy of the Koranda family

    		 Robert Hurst
    Eddelyn 168k Army Nurse Ernestine Koranda
    Photo courtesy of the Koranda family
    Eddelyn 156k Photo courtesy of Steamship Historical Society of America from "Hospital Ships of World War II: An Illustrated Reference" by Emory A. Massman
    Eddelyn/Ernestine Koranda 173k Moored outboard of ex-USAHS Louis A. Milne while berthed in the Pacific Reserve Fleet anchorage at Tongue Point, Oregon, in January 1949 John Chiquoine and Dave Schroeder
    View the Eddelyn
    DANFS history entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command website
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