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USS Aroostook (CM-3)

Please see below for item level images and donated collections containing photographs of USS Aroostook (CM-3)

USSAroostook was originally constructed as the passenger steamship Bunker Hill by the William Cramp & Sons shipyard in Philadelphia. She was launched on 26 March 1907 and sponsored by Miss Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald, daughter of the Mayor of Boston.

USS Aroostook stood out of Newport harbor on 23 July 1919, and steamed to Hampton Roads, arriving the following day. She then transported a draft of men to Portsmouth, Va., on 31 July, and took on supplies before shifting to Portsmouth to load mines and more supplies, completing the loading by 7 August. After a period of recreation and liberty for her crew, USS Aroostook sailed for Colon, Panama Canal Zone, on 12 August. She reached her destination on 18 August and transited the Panama Canal the following day.

From 18 December 1919 to 16 February 1920, USS Aroostook operated out of San Diego, and over the next few months tended aviation units at San Diego, Santa Barbara, and San Pedro until 14 June, when she proceeded to San Diego for a machinery overhaul, and thence to the Mare Island Navy Yard. At the start of that period of availability, the ship received the alphanumeric hull designation CM-3.

USS Aroostook (CM-3) soon returned to the west coast, transporting men and materiel for VS-2. Following local operations out of NAS San Diego, the ship underwent further overhaul work at Mare Island from 24 November 1925. Decommissioned at the Puget Sound Navy Yard, on 10 March1931, USS Aroostook (CM-3)  remained inactive for the next ten years. The Navy considered reactivating her for service as a cargo vessel, taking the step of reclassifying her as AK-44 on 20 May 1941, but found her unsuited for this task. Her name was stricken from the Naval Register on 5 February 1943, and she was transferred to the War Shipping Administration.

For the complete history of USS USS Aroostook (CM-3) please see its DANFS page.