Victorious (Id.No. 3514)
1918-1919
The Navy retained the name carried by this ship at the time of her acquisition.
(Id.No. 3514: displacement 16,400; length 440'1"; beam 56'0"; draft 29'9"; depth of hold. 38'0"; speed10.5 knots; complement 97)
Victorious, a steel-hulled, single-screw cargo vessel built under a United States Shipping Board (USSB) contract by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp., Union Iron Works plant, San Francisco, Calif., was inspected by the Navy at San Francisco on 5 October 1918 and was earmarked for operation by the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS). She was commissioned at San Francisco on 19 October 1918.
Victorious, given the identification number (Id.No.) 3514, proceeded to Port Costa on the 25th, arriving on 18 November, seven days after the Armistice ended the Great War [World War I]. The cargo vessel took on a full load of flour and, on the 22rd, sailed, via the Panama Canal, for New York. Arriving there on 13 December, Victorious got underway for England four days after Christmas 1918.
Victorious reached London on 14 January 1919, discharged her cargo of flour, and loaded 2,300 tons of steel billets and 200 steel rails before sailing for the United States on 30 January. Arriving back at New York on 13 February, the cargo vessel was placed out of commission on 25 February 1919. She was simultaneously stricken from the Navy Register and returned to the USSB.
Acquired by the Baltimore Mail Steamship Co. in 1931, the ship was lengthened and accommodations for passengers added; and renamed City of Havre. Acquired by the Panama Pacific Lines in 1938, the vessel was renamed City of Los Angeles. The Navy acquired City of Los Angeles on 30 October 1940, to convert her into a transport (AP). She was renamed George F. Elliott (AP-13) (q.v.).
Updated, Robert J. Crtessman
23 June 2022
