Winnebago II (Id.No. 2353)
1918
The Navy retained the name carried by this vessel at the time of her acquisition.
II
(Id.No. 2353: displacement 9,625; length between perpendiculars 360'7"; beam 48'2"; draft 24'7" (mean); depth of hold 20'2"; speed 8.75 knots; complement 176; armament 1 5-inch, 1 3-inch)
The steel-hulled single-screw steamer Haugarland, completed in 1900 at Stockton, England, by Craig, Taylor, & Co., had changed hands thrice in the years prior to the Great War (World War I) in mercantile service as Hampton, Heathcraig, and Winnebago before being inspected by the U.S. Navy on 4 February 1918.
Taken over on a bare ship basis from the American Transatlantic Co., of New York City on 9 February 1918 at Hoboken, N.J., Winnebago was given the identification number (Id.No.) 2353 and was commissioned at New York City on 6 March 1918, Lt. Cmdr. Austin R. Cushing, USNRF, in command.
Assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS), U.S. Army Account, Winnebago was fitted and armed as a cargo carrier but made only one round-trip voyage for NOTS. She departed New York City on 23 March 1918, arrived at Norfolk, Va., two days later, and loaded a cargo of dynamite for the Army. The freighter sailed for France on 31 March and made port at Paulliac, via Brest, on 25 April. There, she discharged her cargo; sailed for the United States on 13 May; and arrived at New York City on the 30th.
While it had originally been intended to transfer the vessel to the Shipping Board, a change of orders resulted in her being returned to her previous owners. Thus, on 11 June 1918, Winnebago was turned over to the American Transatlantic Co. for a resumption of merchant service, and her name was stricken from the Navy Register.
Winnebago was eventually sold to the Albert Jensen Aktieselskab, a Danish firm based in Copenhagen, Denmark, sometime in 1923 or 1924. Renamed Fie Jensen, the freighter was subsequently renamed Ontario in 1926 and served under the Danish flag until being scrapped in 1927.
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
11 July 2022
