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Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

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  • Disasters and Phenomena
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  • Ship History
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  • World War I 1917-1918
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Cyclops II (Fuel Ship No. 4)

1910–1918

In Greek mythology, a race of giants with only one eye.

Ironclad steamer Kickapoo (q.v.) carried the name Cyclops from 15 June to 10 August 1869, then was renamed Kewaydin.

II

(Collier: displacement 19,360; length 542'; beam 65'; draft 27'8"; speed 15 knots; complement 236) 

The second Cyclops, a collier, was launched on 7 May 1910 by William Cramp and Sons, Philadelphia, Pa., and delivered and placed in service on 7 November 1910, George W. Worley, Master, Navy Auxiliary Service, in charge. Operating with the Naval Auxiliary Service, Atlantic Fleet, the new collier voyaged to the Baltic (May–July 1911) to supply 2nd Division ships. Returning to Norfolk, she operated on the east coast from Newport, R.I., to the Caribbean servicing the Fleet. During the troubled conditions in Mexico in 1914 and 1915, she coaled ships on patrol there, and received the thanks of the State Department for her help in bringing refugees from Tampico, Mexico, to New Orleans, La.

With American entry into World War I, Cyclops was commissioned on 1 May 1917, Lt. Cmdr. Worley in command. She joined a convoy bound for St. Nazaire, France, in June 1917, returning to the east coast in July. Except for a voyage to Halifax, Nova Scotia, she served along the east coast until 9 January 1918 when she was assigned to Naval Overseas Transportation Service. She then sailed to Brazilian waters to fuel British ships in the South Atlantic, receiving the thanks of the State Department and Adm. William B. Caperton, Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet. She put to sea from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 16 February 1918 and, after touching at Barbados in the British West Indies on 3 and 4 March, was never heard from again. Her loss without a trace is one of the sea’s unsolved mysteries.

Related Resources:

USS Cyclops Lost,
14 June 1918

The Bermuda Triangle: A Selective Bibliography

Updated and expanded by Mark L. Evans
6 September 2018

Published: Thu Sep 06 15:57:15 EDT 2018