Return to Naval History and Heritage Command home page. Return to Online Library listing

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORY AND HERITAGE COMMAND
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo # NH 85171: USS Madawaska, photographed circa 1918

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Madawaska (ID # 3011), 1917-1919.
Originally the German steamship König Wilhelm II (1907).
Was briefly USS König Wilhelm II in 1917.
Later U.S. Army Transport Madawaska and U.S. Grant, 1919-1941; and
USS U.S. Grant (AP-29), 1941-1945

König Wilhelm II, a 9410 gross ton passenger liner, was built at Stettin, Germany, in 1907. She operated for the Hamburg-Amerika Line between Europe and South America until the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, at which time she was laid up at Hoboken, New Jersey. The ship was seized when the U.S. entered the "Great War" in April 1917. Though her German crew had sabotaged her machinery, she was repaired and entered U.S. Navy commissioned service as USS König Wilhelm II late in August 1917, while undergoing conversion to a troop transport. Renamed Madawaska at the beginning of September, and later assigned the registry number ID 3011, for more than a year she was actively engaged in carrying U.S. service personnel to the European war zone. During this time, Madawaska made ten trans-Atlantic voyages, transporting nearly 12,000 men.

With the signing of the Armistice on 11 November 1918, Madawaska's routing was reversed, and she made seven more trips to bring home some 17,000 veterans of the European fighting. Her last such voyage was completed in August 1919. She was decommissioned in early September and transferred to the War Department. She then began more than two decades as an Army Transport, serving as USAT Madawaska until 1922 and thereafter as USAT U.S. Grant.

In June 1941, the ship was given back to the Navy and commissioned as USS U.S. Grant (AP-29). For the next three and a half years she operated in the Pacific, primarily between the U.S. West Coast and Alaska, but also making trips to Hawaii. On 20 July 1942 she avoided an submarine torpedo attack while en route to Dutch Harbor, and in 1943 she participated in the operations to recapture the Aleutians islands of Attu and Kiska. U.S. Grant served in the Caribbean area during the first part of 1945, then returned to the Pacific in September. She made one round-trip passage between San Francisco, California, and Okinawa during the next two months. Decommissioned in mid-November, soon after completing that voyage, she was returned to the War Department, who turned her over to the Maritime Commission for layup. U.S. Grant was sold in February 1948 and scrapped at Baltimore, Maryland.

This page features, and provides links to, all the views we have concerning USS König Wilhelm II, Madawaska (ID # 3011) and U.S. Grant (AP-29), and provides links to images of her while in U.S. Army service.

For other images related to this ship, see:

  • USS Madawaska (ID # 3011) -- On Board and Close Up Views; and
  • USAT U.S. Grant (1919-1941). Named Madawaska until 1922.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: NH 94204

    SS König Wilhelm II     (German Passenger Liner, 1907)

    Probably at Hoboken, New Jersey, circa April 1917, after she had been seized by the United States. Note sentry in the foreground.
    She was turned over to the Navy and commissioned on 27 August 1917 as USS König Wilhelm II. Her name was changed to Madawaska on 1 September 1917 and she later received the identification number 3011.
    She was transferred to the War Department in September 1919 and subsequently served as USAT Madawaska, USAT U.S. Grant and, after 1941, USS U.S. Grant (AP-29).

    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

    Online Image: 109KB; 740 x 605 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 83124

    USS Madawaska (ID # 3011)

    At sea during a trans-Atlantic trooping voyage, November 1917.

    Collection of Chief Warrant Officer J.B. Dofflemeyer, 1972.

    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

    Online Image: 65KB; 740 x 470 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 83125

    Convoy at sea, November 1917

    Photographed from USS San Diego (Armored Cruiser # 6).
    The troopship Madawaska (ID # 3011) is at right, and USS Rowan (Destroyer # 64) is at left.

    Collection of Chief Warrant Officer J.B. Dofflemeyer, 1972.

    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

    Online Image: 90KB; 740 x 475 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 106288

    World War I Troop Transport Convoy at Sea

    The most distant ship, in left center, is USS Mongolia (ID # 1615). The nearer ship, mis-identified on the original print as USS Mercury (ID # 3012), is actually USS Madawaska (ID # 3011).
    Photographed by "V.J.M.".

    Donation of Charles R. Haberlein Jr., 2008.

    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

    Online Image: 61KB; 740 x 445 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 85171

    USS Madawaska (ID # 3011)

    Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken circa 1918, showing the ship painted in "dazzle" camouflage.

    Courtesy of William H. Davis, 1977.

    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

    Online Image: 72KB; 740 x 470 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 105376

    USS Madawaska     (ID # 3011)

    Underway at sea in 1918, while she was painted in "dazzle" camouflage. A "1000-ton" type destroyer, also in camouflage paint, is in the left background.
    Photographed by "HF Co".
    The original image is printed on postcard ("AZO")stock.

    Donation of Charles R. Haberlein Jr., 2007.

    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

    Online Image size: 61KB; 740 x 470 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 98556

    USS Madawaska (ID # 3011)

    At the Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia, 19 February 1919.
    Panoramic photograph, taken by the G.L. Hall Optical Co., Norfolk, Va.
    Note Navy Yard railway crane in the right center foreground, with two very large crates beyond.
    Madawaska is still wearing World War I "dazzle" camouflage, more than three months after the Armistice.
    Most of the clutter seen in the upper part of the image is the coaling gear and other upperworks of a Navy collier tied up off Madawaska's opposite (port) side.

    Donation of the Norfolk Naval Shipyard Museum, Portsmouth, Virginia.

    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

    Online Image: 122KB; 1200 x 285 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 103145

    USS Madawaska     (ID # 3011)

    In port, with much of her crew on deck, circa late 1918 or early 1919.
    Photographed by Holladay, Newport News, Virginia.

    Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2005.

    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

    Online Image: 91KB; 740 x 465 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 103145-A

    USS Madawaska     (ID # 3011)

    Halftone reproduction of a photograph showing the ship in port, circa late 1918 or early 1919.
    This image was published in 1918-1919 by A.M. Simon, 324 E. 23rd St., New York City, as one of ten photographs in a "Souvenir Folder" of views concerning USS Madawaska. The original photo was taken by Holladay, Newport News, Virginia.

    Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2005.

    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

    Online Image: 71KB; 740 x 480 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 103155-KN (color)

    USS Madawaska (ID # 3011)

    "Souvenir Folder", published circa 1918-1919 by A.M. Simon, 324 E. 23rd St., New York City, featuring ten halftone reproductions of photographs of and on board the ship.
    The individual photographs have Photo #s NH 103145-A, NH 103146, NH 103147, NH 103148, NH 103149, NH 103150, NH 103151, NH 103152, NH 103153, and NH 103154.

    Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2005.

    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

    Online Image: 70KB; 470 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 82951

    "The Original U.S. Troop Transports"

    Chart compiled 16 August 1919, showing the number of trans-Atlantic "turn arounds" and their average duration for thirty seven U.S. Navy troop transports employed during and immediately after World War I.

    Collection of the USS Pocahontas Reunion Association, 1974.

    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

    Online Image: 157KB; 690 x 655 pixels

    Click here to rotate chart 90 degrees clockwise

     


    USS Madawaska is partially visible in the background of the following photograph of another ship:

    Photo #: NH 93896

    USS Zeelandia     (ID # 2507)

    Steaming at sea with a troopship convoy, 25 October 1918.
    Photographed from USS Little (Destroyer # 79).
    The ship in the center of the view, partially visible beyond Zeelandia's bow, is USS Madawaska (ID # 3011).

    U.S. Army Signal Corps Photograph, from the collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command.

    Online Image: 95KB; 740 x 585 pixels

     


    In addition to the images presented above, the National Archives appears to hold at least one other view of this ship, taken when she was USS U.S. Grant (AP-29). The following list features this image:

    The image listed below is NOT in the History and Heritage Command's collections.
    DO NOT try to obtain it using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


  • Photo #: 80-G-457903
    USS U.S. Grant (AP-29) in harbor during World War II, possibly off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California.
    Port broadside surface view, with land visible in the right background.

    Reproductions of this image should be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system for pictures not held by the History and Heritage Command.

    The image listed in this box is NOT in the Naval History and Heritage Command's collections. DO NOT try to obtain it using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

    		•


    For other images related to this ship, see:

  • USS Madawaska (ID # 3011) -- On Board and Close Up Views; and
  • USAT U.S. Grant (1919-1941). Named Madawaska until 1922.


    NOTES:

  • To the best of our knowledge, the pictures referenced here are all in the Public Domain, and can therefore be freely downloaded and used for any purpose.

  • Some images linked from this page bear obsolete credit lines citing the organization name: "Naval Historical Center". Effective 1 December 2008 the name should be cited as: "Naval History and Heritage Command".


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval History and Heritage Command home page.

    Page made 18 June 2003
    New image added 5 January 2009