(SP-2505: displacement 23,650; length 560-; beam 62-4-; draft 32-3--; depth of hold 26-2-; speed 15 knots; complement 636; armament 4 6-, 2 1-pounders, 2 machine guns)
Rijndam retained her Dutch mercantile name in U.S. Navy service.
Rijndam was launched during 1901 by Harland & Wolf Ltd., Belfast, Ireland, as a steel passenger liner for the Nederlandsche-Amerikaansche Stoomvaart Mastschappij and interned at New York during World War I. She was seized during March 1918 by Customs officials along with 88 other Dutch vessels, 31 of which entered U.S. Navy service. Rijndam was commissioned 1 May 1918 at New York for service as a troopship, Comdr. John J. Hannigan in command.
Rijndam departed New York 10 May 1918 on the first of six convoy voyages to Europe before the war's end. She landed troops and supplies at Brest, France, on five occasions through November 1918, and called once at St. Nazaire during July. Rijndam was nearly torpedoed 31 May 1918 on the same occasion that the transport President Lincoln was sunk but avoided the torpedoes and shortly afterward nearly rammed a German submarine cruising at periscope depth.
Rijndam made seven round-trip voyages from Quiberon, St. Nazaire, and Brest, France, following the end of World War I, returning U.S. troops and personnel to Newport News, Norfolk, Hoboken, and New York. She carried over 3,000 passengers on many of her 26 trips across the Atlantic, completing her active service upon arrival at New York 4 August 1919 from Brest. Transferred from the Cruiser and Transport Force 11 August 1919 to the custody of the 3d Naval District, Rijndam was decommissioned and returned to her former owner 22 October 1919 at New York. Rijndam resumed her mercantile career under the Dutch flag, remaining active until scrapped during 1929.
29 September 2005
