Choctaw III (Id.No. 1648)
1918-1919
The Navy retained the name carried by this vessel at the time of her acquisition.
III
(Id.No. 1648: displacement 3,800; length 261'; beam 43'6"; draft 17'9"; speed 9 knots; complement 63; armament 1 4-inch, 1 3-inch)
The third Choctaw was launched in 1917 at Chicago, Illinois, by the American Shipbuilding Co., for the U.S. Shipping Board; transferred to the Navy on 19 February 1918 under a bare-boat charter; given the identification number (Id.No.) 1648 and commissioned on 4 March 1918 at Hoboken, N.J., Lt. Cmdr. E. F. Mitchell, USNRF, in command.
Choctaw was assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service and between 16 March and 22 December 1918 made four transatlantic voyages during the Great War, carrying mine cargo and general supplies to the Azores, Scotland, and France. On her last voyage, she aided the distressed Danish merchantman Asgard on 19 December 1918 and towed her to Norfolk, arriving on 22 December, three days before Christmas.
Decommissioned at Norfolk on 16 January 1919, Choctaw was returned to the Shipping Board and delivered to her owners at New York the following day, 17 January 1919.
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
2 September 2021
