Naiwa (Id.No. 3512)
1918-1919
The Navy retained the name carried by this vessel at the time of her acquisition.
(id.No. 3512: displacement 12,260 (normal); length 423'9"; beam 54'0"; draft 24'6"; speed 10.5 knots; complement 85; armament 1 5-inch, 1 4-inch)
Naiwa was built by the Baltimore Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Baltimore, Md.; launched on 4 July 1918, Independence Day;; turned over to the Navy on 10 September 1918; assigned the identification number (Id.No.) 3512; and commissioned at Baltimore on 4 November 1918, Lt. Cmdr. Joseph D. Sweetser, USNRF, in command. The Armistice, ending hostilities, was signed on 11 November 1918, just a week after she was commissioned.
Assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS) U.S. Army account, Naiwa cleared Baltimore Harbor on 27 November 1918 with a general cargo for France, but steering gear malfunctions compelled her to turn back . Following repairs, she steamed from Norfolk, Va., on 8 March 1919, arrived La Pallice on 23 March for onward routing, and then went on to Bordeaux where she discharged her cargo.
Naiwa cleared Bordeaux on 12 April 1919 and steamed to Brest, where she took on a cargo of German guns and gun parts. Reaching Norfolk on 2 May, she was decommissioned there on 9 May after her only NOTS voyage, and she was returned to the U.S. Shipping Board.
Ultimately, Naiwa was broken up for scrap in 1929.
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
17 May 2022
