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

St. Francis (ID 1557)


Cargo Ship: Built as San Francisco in 1914 by the North Ireland Ship Building Co., Londonderry, Ireland; Acquired by the Navy, 19 June 1918 at Baltimore, MD; Commissioned USS St. Francis (ID 1557), 25 June 1918; Decommissioned, 28 April 1919 at New York and transferred to the United States Shipping Board for return to her owner, the United States Steel Products Co. Fate unknown.

Specifications: Displacement 11,528 t.; Length 420'; Beam 54' 8"; Draft 25' 9½"; Speed 12.5 kts.; Complement 62; Armament unknown.


Click On Image
For Full Size Image
Size Image Description Source
St. Francis 96k Photographed prior to her World War I Naval Service.
USN Photo NH 102171
Naval Historical Center

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships: St. Francis, a steel-hulled screw freighter built in 1914 by the North Ireland Ship Building Co., Londonderry, Ireland, was acquired by the Navy at Baltimore on 19 June 1918 under United States Shipping Board (USSB) charter from the United States Steel Products Co.; and commissioned there on 25 June.

Assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service, the ship was loaded with Army supplies and sailed for New York where she joined a convoy and sailed for France on 4 July. The ships reached Brest on the 19th; and, the next day, St. Francis proceeded to West Hampton, England, where she discharged her cargo. On 15 August, she sailed in convoy for the United States and reached Baltimore on the 27th. Reloaded with Army supplies, she again got underway on 18 September and steamed via New York to France and arrived at La Pallice on 13 October. The next day she proceeded to St. Nazaire where she unloaded.

Back in Baltimore on 14 November, three days after the armistice was signed, the ship was transferred from an Army to a USSB Account and sailed from New York on 26 January 1919 for Cristobal, Panama. After transiting the canal, she proceeded down the Pacific coast of South America and reached Valparaiso, Chile, on 17 February. After returning through the canal, the ship loaded a commercial cargo of sugar at Cienfuegos, Cuba, and arrived at New York on 8 April. She was decommissioned there on 28 April 1919 and the same day was transferred to the USSB for simultaneous return to her owner.


Back To The Main Photo Index Back To the Patrol Craft/Gunboat/Submarine Chaser Ship Type Index Back to the Auxiliary Ship Index Back to the Civilian Identification Numbered Ships (ID) Photo Index

Comments, Suggestions, E-mail Webmaster

This page created and maintained by Joseph M. Radigan
© 2005 Joseph M. Radigan © 2005 NavSource Naval History. All Rights Reserved.