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NavSource Online: Army Ship Photo Archive

USAT Cantigny

Transport:
  • Laid down, 11 November 1918, as the Emergency Fleet Corporation Design 1024 (Hog Island Type B) Shohola at American International Shipbuilding Corp. (AISC), Hog Island Shipyard, Philadelphia, PA.
  • Launched, 27 October 1919 as Cantigny
  • Delivered to the U.S. Shipping Board 23 August 1920
  • Transferred in September 1920 to the US Army Transportation Corp. and assigned to the U.S. Army Transport Service.
  • Commissioned USAT Cantigny .
  • Named in honor of the U.S. Army’s participation in the Battle of Cantigny in World War I
  • Assigned to the A.T.S. Atlantic Fleet with homeport at Army Supply Base, Brooklyn, N.Y.
  • Performed her first voyage for the Army Transport Service 7 September 1920 to Antwerp, Belgium, to bring US troops home from occupation duty in Germany
  • USAT Cantigny generally serviced the New York—Antwerp and the New York—San Juan—Panama routes forces from Europe
  • Performed her final voyage for the U.S. Army Transport Service in July 1922
  • Laid up 28 July 1922 at Norfolk, VA.
  • Ordered to be turned over to the U.S. Shipping Board 31 September 1922
  • Turned over to the U.S. Shipping Board 3 July 1923
  • Sold in 1924 to the United States Line, renamed SS American Banker
  • Allocated to the American Merchant Line and placed in commercial service between New York and London as a freighter with berths for 16 passengers
  • Passenger accommodations were increased to around 90 persons in 1926
  • Transferred to the United States Line 1n 1931
  • American Banker remained in operation between the United States and London until laid up following the September 1939 outbreak of World War II when the November 1939 Neutrality Act prevented American flag ships from calling at belligerent ports
  • In order to resume operations her American owners set up a Belgian shipping company, Antwerp Navigation Co.(Belgium) in 1940
  • American Banker was sold to the new company and renamed SS Ville d'Anvers and placed back in service
  • Following World War II SS Ville d'Anvers was re-registered, 13 November 1945, under the Honduran flag, retaining her Belgian name, operating as a freighter
  • She re-entered passenger service in November 1946 with 200 berths under the name SS City of Athens, but the identity of her new owners, probably Italian or Greek, was never revealed
  • In late 1947 she was sold to the Panamanian Lines (Panama), refitted as the migrant carrier SS Protea with berths for over 1000 persons in bunkhouse accommodations that were, according to one historian, possibly the worst of any European owned and oriented vessel of her day
  • Sold in 1952 to the Arosa Lines, (Compania Internacional Transportadera of Panama) renamed SS Arosa Kulm, and her accommodations were reduced to 900
  • Arrested" for debt at Plymouth, England, in December, 1958
  • Final Disposition, broken up at Bruges in May 1959
    Specifications:
    Displacement 7,430 gross tons
    Length 380'
    Beam 54'
    Draft 28'
    Speed 15 kts
    Complement
    Officers unknown
    Enlisted, unknown
    Troopship Passenger Capacity 16 to 1000
    Cargo Capacity unknown
    Cruise Radius unknown
    Propulsion
    two oil-fired geared steam turbines, 2,500 shp
    1,900 KW
    twin shafts
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		Size Image Description Source
    USAT Cantigny
    Cantigny 83k USAT Cantigny under way, 23 August 1920, on her delivery voyage from her builders Yard at Hog Island, PA.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 797    		 US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Cantigny 71k USAT Cantigny under way date and location unknown.
    US National Archives Record Group 92 - Records of the Quartermaster General    		 US Army Order of Battle 1919-1941 Vol. 4
    Cantigny 66k USAT Cantigny, on 7 December 1923 near Newark, New Jersey, after striking a drawbridge while she was passing through Newark Bay enroute to the yard of the Federal Shipbuilding Co. where she was to be overhauled. A fleet of tugs finally dislodged her after hours of work. Freight traffic of the Lehigh Valley and Pennsylvania Railroads in Newark was disrupted by the accident.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 68839. Courtesy of the San Francisco Maritime Museum, San Francisco, CA., 1969.    		 US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Merchant Service
    Cantigny 59k Ex- USAT Cantigny wearing the name SS City of Athens while under uncertain ownership in 1946 and 1947.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 105290. Donation of Captain Stephen S. Roberts, USNR (Retired), 2007.    		 US Naval History and Heritage Command
    History USAT Cantigny is from US Army Order of Battle 1919 - 1941, Vol. 4
    Master
    01CAPT. Hitchcock, James C., A.T.S.December 1920 - 20 August 1922
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 19 April 2019