West Avenal (Id. No. 3871)
1919
The Navy retained the name carried by this ship at the time of her acquisition.
(Id. No. 3871; displacement 12,200; length 427'0"; beam 54'0"; depth of hold 29'9"; draft 23'6" (mean); speed 10.5 knots; complement 70; armament none)
West Avenal, a single-screw, steel-hulled freighter built in 1918 under a United States Shipping Board contract at San Francisco, Calif., by the Western Steel & Pipe Co.-was taken over by the Navy on 1 February 1919; given the identification number (Id. No.) 3871; and commissioned the same day at San Francisco, Lt. Cmdr. Franz Patterson, USNRF, in command.
West Avenal conducted one voyage for the Naval Overseas Transportation Service. She departed San Francisco on 17 February 1919 with a cargo of flour; transited the Panama Canal; and arrived at Norfolk, Va., on 4 April. The next day, the ship was placed put of commission and returned to the Shipping Board, in whose custody she remained until abandoned in late 1928.
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
22 January 2024
