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Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive

Nantahala (ID 3519)


Cargo Ship: Built in 1918 as Wautahala by the Western Pipe and Steel Co., San Francisco, CA; Launched, 4 July 1918; Renamed Nantahala, (date unknown); Acquired by the Navy, 16 November 1918 and commissioned Nantahala (ID 3519) the same day; Decommissioned, 17 April 1919 at New York; Returned to the United States Shipping Board, 30 April 1919. Fate unknown.

Specifications: Displacement 12,250 t.; Length 427'; Beam 54'; Draft 24' 2"; Speed 11 kts.; Complement 72;
Armament unknown.


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Nantahala 46k Photographed off San Francisco, California, when first completed, circa summer 1918. She is wearing "dazzle" camouflage and has the tug Sea Fox, of San Francisco, alongside.
USN Photograph NH 65106
Naval Historical Center

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships History: The first Nantahala, a single screw cargo ship, was launched under USSB contract by Western Pipe & Steel Co., San Francisco, Calif. 4 July 1918; taken over by the Navy 16 November 1918; and commissioned the same day, Lt. Comdr. Berthel Carlsen, USNRF, in command.

Assigned to NOTS, Nantahala loaded a cargo of flour and sailed 5 December for the East Coast where she arrived at New York 31 December. Assigned to duty as a food relief ship, she sailed for the Mediterranean 9 January 1919 and reached Fiume, in mid-February with her lifesaving cargo of flour and foodstuffs. She operated in the Adriatic and the Central Mediterranean during the next month, thence sailed via Gibraltar for the United States arriving at New York 10 April. Nantahala decommissioned at New York 17 April 1919 and was returned to the USSB on the 30th.


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