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USS DeKalb (SP-3010)

Please see below for item level images and donated collections containing photographs of USS DeKalb (SP-3010)

Prinz Eitel Friedrich was laid down in 1904 at Stettin, Germany, by Aktiengesellschaft Vulcan, and launched on 18 June 1904. Originally named, the ship was a member of the Norddeutscher [North German] Lloyd Line. Reconditioned and refitted as a troop transport and given the identification number (Id.No.) 3010, she was renamed USS DeKalb (SP-3010), and commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 12 May 1917, Cmdr. Walter R. Gherardi in command.

USS DeKalb (SP-3010) conducted trials and coaling from (3-11 June 1917) and was then assigned to the Cruiser and Transport Force, Atlantic Fleet, under the command of Rear Adm. Albert Gleaves. She departed on 12 June 1917 and steamed to rendezvous with the other ships of the convoy off Staten Island, N.Y. She arrived the following day. USS DeKalb (SP-3010) embarked 821 troops at New York and cleared the port with Group 7 on 7 September 1917. USS DeKalb (SP-3010), having spent New Year’s Day in port, got underway again on 3 January 1918. After her return from France, she entered the yard at Philadelphia and underwent repairs for 21 days.

After embarking the Headquarters Company and Squadrons A, B, and C of the First Marine Aviation Force, USS DeKalb (SP-3010) departed Hoboken on 18 July 1918 and arrived at Brest on the 30th. With the signing of the Armistice, hostilities ceased on 11 November. The priority of troop movement for DeKalb now shifted from moving troops eastward to France, to conveying them westward and home. In the next 18 months, USS DeKalb (SP-3010) made 11 such voyages.

Instead of steaming for Hoboken, USS DeKalb (SP-3010) set a course for Newport News, where she arrived on 12 March. After another thirteen days of repairs at the Norfolk Navy Yard, she cleared the Virginia capes on 25 March and arrived at St. Nazaire on 5 April. Getting underway on 28 July, USS DeKalb (SP-3010) steamed into the Atlantic for one last transit to France as a troop transport. She arrived at Brest on 8 August. After eighteen days in the French port, USS DeKalb (SP-3010) departed Brest on 26 August 1919 with 764 troops embarked. The Daily [U.S. Naval] Aviation News Bulletin of 3 March 1920 told of negotiations “being conducted with a view to obtaining USS DeKalb (SP-3010)…for use as an aviation tender.” Although the author of the Bulletin believed that “this object will be accomplished,” the plan did not come to fruition, and the vessel was returned to civilian control, initially as USS DeKalb (SP-3010) and, after 1920, as Mount Clay. 

For a complete history of USS DeKalb (SP-3010) please see its DANFS page.