Montclair (Id. No. 3497)
1918-1919
The Navy retained the name carried by this ship at the time of her acquisition.
(Id. No. 3497: displacement 10,562; length 377'; beam 52'; draft 23'8"; speed 11 knots; complement 70; armament 1 4-inch, 1 3-inch)
Montclair was built in 1918 by Standard Shipbuilding Corp., Shooters' Island, N.Y., as a refrigerator ship for Cunard Steamship Co. She was taken over by the Shipping Board through the Emergency Fleet Corporation 19 August 1918 at Brooklyn and commissioned as a NOTS refrigerated cargo ship.
She joined a convoy out of New York 7 October with a cargo of beef and a deckload of trucks, but she was unable to maintain convoy speed. Because of this and because of machinery deficiencies, she was ordered to drop out of the convoy 8 October and make Norfolk for repairs. She was then directed to join up with a convoy scheduled to depart New York 19 October.
Montclair arrived Quiberon 6 November, and that day she discharged her cargo at St. Nazaire. She departed Quiberon 14 November for a westbound voyage but after weathering a gale, she was forced to put in for repairs and fuel at Bermuda. She arrived New York 15 December, and two more cargo runs to St. Nazaire and Rotterdam were completed by 20 May 1919.
In June she was directed to Galveston, Tex., to take on a load of onions destined for St. Nazaire. A few days out of Galveston it was found that the temperature and condition of the cargo in the holds was such that decay had set in. Montclair was ordered to Norfolk. Upon arrival 25 June it was decided to place her in line for demobilization. She decommissioned 7 July 1919 and returned to the USSB. She continued to operate as a refrigerated cargo ship under Shipping Board ownership until 1932.
