Naval History and Heritage Command

I

Ancon (Id. No. 1467), a screw steamer built in 1902 at Sparrows Point, Md., by the Maryland Steel Co., was acquired by the Navy from the Army at New Orleans on 16 November 1918, five days after the armistice ended World War I. The ship was outfitted as a troop transport and commissioned on 28 March 1919, Lt. Comdr. Milan L. Pittman, USNRF, in command.

Ancon's brief Navy career lasted just four months. Assigned to the Atlantic Fleet's Cruiser and Transport Force, she made two round-trip voyages from the United States to France to bring American servicemen back home. Following her second voyage, she was decommissioned at New York City on 25 July 1919 and was returned to the War Department.