Sudbury (Id. No. 2149)
1918-1919
The Navy retained the name carried by this vessel at the time of her acquisition.
(Id. No. 2149: displacement 10,400; length 385'0"; beam 51'0"; draft 23'11"; speed 11.0 knots; complement104; armament 1 5-inch, 1 6-pounder)
Sudbury , a simgle-screw, steel-hulled cargo vessel built in 1917 at Chester, Pa., by the Chester Shipbuilding Corp., and operated by the Shawmut Steamship Co. She was acquired by the Navy and commissioned on 5 March 1918 at Philadelphia, Pa., for service in the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS), U.S. Army Account..
Sudbury , Lt. Cmdr Charles E. Smith, USNRF, commanding, loaded a cargo of U.S. Army supplies and sailed on 20 March 1918 for New York where she joined a convoy that got underway for France four days later. She arrived at Brest on 8 April. From there, she proceeded to Bordeaux, unloaded her cargo, and sailed on 5 May for New York. The cargo ship made three more voyages to France in 1918.
On 10 January 1919, she sailed from Philadelphia to Trieste and returned on 3 April. Eight days later, Sudbury was decommissioned, stricken from the Navy Register, and returned to her owner.
Subsequently acquired by United American Lines., New York, N.Y., Sudbury was then purchased by Munson Steamship Line, New York, in 1927, which renamed her Munbeaver. A little over a decade later, in 1938, an Italian firm, the Capo Line, bought the vessel and renamed her Capo Alga. UIltimately, she was scuttled on 18 August 1944 at St. Nazaire, France.
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
6 March 2024
