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Western Spirit (Id. No. 3164)

1918-1919

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

(Id. No. 3164: displacement 12,185; length 423'9"; beam 54'0"; depth of hold 29'9"; draft 24'0"(mean); speed 10.5 knots; complement 97; armament 1 4-inch 1 3-inch)

Western Spirit, a single-screw, steel-hulled freighter constructed under a United States Shipping Board (USSB) contract at Portland, Oregon, by the Northwestern Steel Co., was launched on 6 May 1918; was taken over by the Navy on 19 July 1918; given the identification number (Id. No.) 3164; and commissioned at Portland on 30 July 1918, Lt. Comdr. Howard H. Rees, USNRF, in command.

Assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS), Western Spirit departed Portland on 26 July 1918 for Arica, Chile. There she loaded a cargo of nitrates and proceeded via the Panama Canal to Louisiana. The cargo vessel arrived at New Orleans on 11 September; unloaded; and sailed on the 23rd for Hampton Roads, Va. Soon after reaching Norfolk, she onloaded some 4,000 tons of general Army supplies and sailed on 13 October for New York to join an east-bound convoy for France.

Underway on the 16th, Western Spirit developed engine trouble and was forced to put in to Halifax, Nova Scotia, for emergency repairs which delayed her until 2 November 1918. Arriving at Verdon-sur-Mer on the 20th,she discharged her cargo, took on a return load of Army equipment, and got underway on 18 December for the United States.

Returning to Norfolk on 7 January 1919, Western Spirit conducted one more cargo-carrying voyage for NOTS. She departed Norfolk on 19 February, carrying railroad supplies and a cargo of goods consigned to the Army Quartermaster Corps, and arrived at La Pallice, France, on 10 March. On the 23rd, the cargo vessel departed French waters, bound for home, and reached Norfolk on 11 April.

Western Spirit was simultaneously decommissioned and stricken from the Navy Register on 17 April 1919 and returned to the USSB. She remained in the custody of that agency until abandoned, due to age and deterioration, in 1933.

Updated, Robert J. Cressman

26 February 2024

Published: Mon Feb 26 20:08:05 EST 2024