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Naval History and Heritage Command

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Westerner (Id. No. 2890)

1918-1919

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

(Id. No. 2890: displacement 12,200; length 423'9"; beam 54'0"; depth of hold 29'9"; draft 24'1" (mean); speed 10.5 knots; complement 87; armament 1 5-inch)

Westerner, a steel-hulled, single-screw cargo ship built under a United States Shipping Board (USSB) contract, was launched on 4 November 1917 at Seattle, Wash., by J. F. Duthie & Co. and delivered to the Navy for operation by the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS) at Norfolk, Va., on 20 June 1918. Commissioned on that date, with Lt. Cmdr. Henry W. Lyon, Jr., in command, Westerner departed Norfolk for New York on 10 July 1918 with a cargo of U. S. Army supplies.

Joining up with a France-bound convoy, Westerner departed New York on 24 July 1918. An engine casualty en route forced the ship to spend three days at Halifax, Nova Scotia, before she resumed her voyage. Making port at Brest on 17 August, the cargo ship soon shifted to St. Nazaire where she discharged her load. Departing St. Nazaire on 22 September, the ship arrived at Norfolk on 10 October to load another cargo of army supplies.

Westerner subsequently conducted three additional cargo-carrying voyages for NOTS: two to La Pallice, France (on one occasion lifting supplies consigned to the French government), and one to Trieste, Italy, via Gibraltar. After her final NOTS voyage, Westerner made port at New York on 6 August 1919.

Decommissioned on 21 August 1919, the cargo vessel was simultaneously stricken from the Navy Register and turned back to the USSB. Laid up in the late 1920's, Westerner was abandoned, due to age and deterioration, in either late 1932 or early 1933.

Updated, Robert J. Cressman

21 February 2024

Published: Wed Feb 21 10:14:29 EST 2024