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Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

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  • Boats-Ships--Support Ships
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  • Ship History
Wars & Conflicts
  • World War I 1917-1918
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Canibas (Id.No. 3401)

1918-1919

The Navy retained the name carried by this vessel at the time of her acquisition.

(Id.No. 3401:displacement 13,910; length 435'; beam 54'0"; draft 26'0"; speed 11 knots; complement 70; armament 1 6-inch, 1 3-inch)

The steel-hulled single-screw cargo vessel New Jersey, laid down and constructed at Bath, Maine, by the Texas Shipbuilding Co., during 1918, was completed as Canibas in September 1918. Given the Identification Number (Id.No.) 3401, she was transferred from the Shipping Board on 10 September 1918; and commissioned the same day, Lt. Cmdr. Percy L. Farmer, USNRF, in command.

Assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service, which was charged with equipping and supplying American forces in France, Canibas carried varied cargoes in three voyages from New York to French and Dutch ports between 26 September 1918 and 28 May 1919. Her cargoes included hay and oats for the horses of the Army, as well as food for the troops. Canibas was decommissioned at New York on 4 June 1919, stricken from the Navy Register, and returned to the Shipping Board the same day.

After flying the house flags of the Texas and Green Star Lines (1920-1921), Canibas was acquired by the Matson Line in 1923. Renamed Mauna Ala, she operated under the Matson colors for almost two decades, as war clouds began gathering over Europe and the Pacific.

Ultimately, learning of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, Mauna Ala received orders to put in to Portland, Oregon, instead. The extinguishing of aids to navigation, however, caused the vessel to run aground on 10 December 1941 off Clatsop Beach, Oregon. She was deemed a total loss.

Updated, Robert J. Cressman

1 February 2022

Published: Thu Feb 03 09:08:17 EST 2022