Floridian (Id. No. 3875)
1919
The Navy retained the name carried by this vessel at the time of her acquisition.
(Id. No. 3875: displacement 14,500; length 429'2"; beam 53'8"; draft 29'6" (mean); maximum speed 14.5 knots)
Floridian – a steel-hull, single-screw freighter built by the Maryland Steel Co., Sparrows Point, Md., in 1915, for the American-Hawaiian Steamship Co., New York, N.Y., operated during the Great War with a Navy Armed Guard detachment embarked (17 September 1917-11 November 1918). Her armament removed at Newport News, Va., on 5 January 1919, she was inspected in the Third Naval District and acquired from the United States Shipping Board (USSB) on 28 January 1919, given the identification number (Id. No.) 3875, and commissioned alongside Pier No.1, Bush Terminal, N.Y., the same day, Lt. Cmdr. Joseph F. Nichols, USNRF, in command.
Moved to Fletcher’s Dry Dock facility on 3 February 1919, Floridian – assigned to the Cruiser and Transport Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet – there underwent conversion to a troop transport. The yard completed the work on 6 March, after which time the ship loaded 2,400 tons of cargo for the Army of Occupation, and sailed for France on 16 March, reaching Brest on the 28th. She completed her first voyage cycle upon arrival at Hoboken, N.J., on 14 April, bringing home 1,824 men.
Following a drydocking (14-18 April 1919), Floridian sailed for St. Nazaire, France, arriving on 3 May. She began her second voyage homeward on 5 May, reaching Hoboken on the 17th.
Floridian began her third voyage cycle on 22 May 1919, sailing for New York, and reached St. Nazaire on 2 June. After embarking 1,791 returning troops, she set out for the U.S. the following day, mooring at Pier No. 6, Bush Terminal, South Brooklyn, N.Y., eleven days later (14 June).
Following a brief period of voyage repairs and upkeep, Floridian cleared New York for France on 20 June 1919, reaching Bordeaux on 1 July. The troop transport sailed for New York on 5 July, her 1,829 passengers including 21 war brides, 25 U.S. Army officers, 2 female nurses, and mail bags. For that passage, Floridian’s female passengers occupied officer quarters while the ship accommodated officers in sick bay, prompting the commander of the Cruiser and Transport Force, when he learned of it, to denounce the practice as “dangerous in [the] event of [a] contagious disease appearing on board.” Instead, he recommended that “women passengers be confined to ships previously designated and provided with female nurses.”
Arriving at Pier No. 4, Bush Terminal, on 15 July 1919 from her fourth voyage cycle, Floridian was transferred there from the Cruiser and Transport Force to the Third Naval District on 16 July 1919, and on 4 August 1919 was returned to her pre-war owners.
Floridian continued to operate under the house flag of the American-Hawaiian Steamship Co. into the late 1920s. Ultimately, around 10:30 p.m. on 1 September 1928, she collided with the steamer Admiral Fiske, of the Pacific Steamship Co., off the dense fog-shrouded coast of the state of Washington and sank, a total loss. Admiral Fiske, although damaged in the maritime mishap, managed to make port.
Robert J. Cressman and M. Welde
1 November 2016
