SS West Gotomska
Encyclopedia
SS West Gotomska was a steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
–hulled
Hull (watercraft)
A hull is the watertight body of a ship or boat. Above the hull is the superstructure and/or deckhouse, where present. The line where the hull meets the water surface is called the waterline.The structure of the hull varies depending on the vessel type...
cargo ship
Cargo ship
A cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship or vessel that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year; they handle the bulk of international trade...
built in 1918 as part of the World War I emergency wartime shipbuilding program organized by the United States Shipping Board
United States Shipping Board
The United States Shipping Board was established as an emergency agency by the Shipping Act , 7 September 1916. It was formally organized 30 January 1917. It was sometimes referred to as the War Shipping Board.http://www.gwpda.org/wwi-www/Hurley/bridgeTC.htm | The Bridge To France by Edward N....
.
West Gotomska was commissioned straight into the U.S. Navy on completion in August 1918 as the auxiliary ship
Auxiliary ship
An auxiliary ship is a naval ship which is designed to operate in any number of roles supporting combatant ships and other naval operations. Auxiliaries are not primary combatants, although they may have some limited combat capacity, usually of a self defensive nature.Auxiliaries are extremely...
USS West Gotomska (ID-3322), and subsequently completed several supply missions on the Navy's behalf before decommissioning in June 1919. Between the wars, she was placed into commercial service as SS West Gotomska.
With America's entry into World War II in December 1941, West Gotomska participated in the convoy system that kept open the vital supply lines to Britain and the Soviet Union during the Battle of the Atlantic. In 1942, West Gotomska became one of the few survivors of the disastrous Convoy PQ-17
Convoy PQ-17
PQ 17 was the code name for an Allied World War II convoy in the Arctic Ocean. In July 1942, the Arctic convoys suffered a significant defeat when Convoy PQ 17 lost 24 of its 35 merchant ships during a series of heavy enemy daylight attacks which lasted a week. On 27 June, the ships sailed...
to Russia.
In 1943, the ageing vessel was sold to Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an interests, who renamed her SS Andalien. Andalien was scrapped in Philadelphia in 1948.
Construction and design
West Gotomska was built in Seattle, WashingtonSeattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
in 1918 at the No. 1 Plant of the Skinner & Eddy Corporation—the 12th in a series of 24 Design 1013
Design 1013 ship
The Design 1013 ship , also known as the Robert Dollar type, was a steel-hulled cargo ship design approved for mass production by the United States Shipping Boards Emergency Fleet Corporation in World War I...
cargo ship
Cargo ship
A cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship or vessel that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year; they handle the bulk of international trade...
s built by Skinner & Eddy for the USSB
USSB
USSB might stand for:*United States Satellite Broadcasting*United States Shipping Board*Upper Single-sideband...
s emergency wartime shipbuilding program. The ship was laid down on May 16, launched 51 working (62 calendar) days later on 17 July, and completed on 7 August—a total time under construction of 68 working (83 calendar) days, putting West Gotomska amongst the fastest-built ships of her time.
West Gotomska had a design deadweight tonnage
Deadweight tonnage
Deadweight tonnage is a measure of how much weight a ship is carrying or can safely carry. It is the sum of the weights of cargo, fuel, fresh water, ballast water, provisions, passengers, and crew...
of 8,800 tons and gross register tonnage
Gross Register Tonnage
Gross register tonnage a ship's total internal volume expressed in "register tons", one of which equals to a volume of . It is calculated from the total permanently enclosed capacity of the vessel. The ship's net register tonnage is obtained by reducing the volume of non-revenue-earning spaces i.e...
of 5,600. She had an overall length of 423 feet 9 inches, a beam of 54 feet and a draft of 24 feet 2 inches. The ship was powered by a Curtis geared turbine
Steam turbine
A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884....
, driving a single screw propeller and delivering a speed of 11 knots.
U.S. Navy service, 1918–19
West Gotomska was delivered at Seattle on 7 August 1918 and commissioned into the Navy the same day, as USS West Gotomska (ID-3322) for operation with the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS). Lt. Comdr. C. J. O'Brien, USNRF, was placed in command.USS West Gotomska commenced her first voyage for the Navy on 17 August when she sailed for Arica, Chile
Arica, Chile
Arica is a commune and a port city with a population of 185,269 in the Arica Province of northern Chile's Arica and Parinacota Region, located only south of the border with Peru. The city is the capital of both the Arica Province and the Arica and Parinacota Region...
to load a cargo of guano
Guano
Guano is the excrement of seabirds, cave dwelling bats, and seals. Guano manure is an effective fertilizer due to its high levels of phosphorus and nitrogen and also its lack of odor. It was an important source of nitrates for gunpowder...
bound for New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
. Making port at New Orleans on 11 October, the ship discharged her cargo of nitrates and then took aboard a full cargo of Army supplies earmarked for U.S. troops in France. Departing for France on 10 November—the day before Armistice Day
Armistice Day
Armistice Day is on 11 November and commemorates the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne, France, for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front of World War I, which took effect at eleven o'clock in the morning—the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day...
—West Gotomska arrived at Quiberon Bay
Quiberon Bay
The Baie de Quiberon is an area of sheltered water on the south coast of Brittany. The bay is in the Morbihan département.-Geography:The bay is roughly triangular in shape, open to the south with the Gulf of Morbihan to the north-east and the narrow peninsular of Presqu'île de Quiberon providing...
, France on the 25th where she unloaded her cargo. She then took aboard 2,100 tons of Army return cargo and departed on 22 December for Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
, arriving 6 January.
Having unloaded her cargo at Norfolk, West Gotomska shipped 5,182 tons of fuel oil
Fuel oil
Fuel oil is a fraction obtained from petroleum distillation, either as a distillate or a residue. Broadly speaking, fuel oil is any liquid petroleum product that is burned in a furnace or boiler for the generation of heat or used in an engine for the generation of power, except oils having a flash...
and sailed on the 25th for La Pallice, France. The ship then conducted a second run to La Pallice with Army cargo before returning, via the Azores
Azores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
and Philadelphia, to Hampton Roads, Virginia. She was decommissioned and struck from the Navy List
Naval Vessel Register
The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...
on 6 June 1919.
Interwar years
Following her decommission, West Gotomska was returned to control of the USSB, which placed her into merchant service as SS West Gotomska. Through the 1920s, West Gotomska was employed in Transatlantic and Mediterranean service, operating between U.S. ports such as New York and BaltimoreBaltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
and various European and Near East
Near East
The Near East is a geographical term that covers different countries for geographers, archeologists, and historians, on the one hand, and for political scientists, economists, and journalists, on the other...
ern destinations including Marseilles, France; Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, England; Salonika, Greece and Oran, Algeria. There is no record in readily available sources of West Gotomskas movements in the 1930s, and it may be that, like many other ships in this period, she was laid up through lack of work due to the onset of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
in 1929-30.
World War II
In early 1941, at the height of the Battle of the Atlantic, the IrishIreland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
government decided to establish its own neutral merchant marine. The government purchased three secondhand freighters for the purpose, Leda, a 4,100 ton vessel, and two ships owned by the U.S. Maritime Commission (the successor to the USSB), West Neris and West Gotomska. The two U.S. ships underwent a thorough recondition for the sale, and were slated for carrying a cargo of wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
gifted to Ireland by the U.S. government after an Irish crop failure. However, after Leda temporarily went missing on her maiden voyage under the Irish flag, the sale of West Gotomska appears to have been cancelled, as the ship remained under U.S. ownership.
By early 1942, West Gotomska had become part of the North Atlantic convoy system, established to keep open the vital supply lanes between the United States and her wartime allies Britain and the Soviet Union. On 18 March 1942, West Gotomska sailed from Halifax, Nova Scotia
City of Halifax
Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...
in Convoy SC-75 with a cargo of general goods bound for Liverpool, England, arriving at her destination 3 April. The next few voyages undertaken by the vessel would be made with the hazardous Russia-bound convoys.
Russian convoys
On 26 March, West Gotomska departed ObanOban
Oban Oban Oban ( is a resort town within the Argyll and Bute council area of Scotland. It has a total resident population of 8,120. Despite its small size, it is the largest town between Helensburgh and Fort William and during the tourist season the town can be crowded by up to 25,000 people. Oban...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
with Convoy PQ-14, bound for Murmansk, Russia. After suffering ice damage en route however, she was diverted to Convoy QP-10, which was returning from Russia to Reykjavík
Reykjavík
Reykjavík is the capital and largest city in Iceland.Its latitude at 64°08' N makes it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói Bay...
, Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
. Arriving at Reykjavík 21 April, West Gotomska put in for repairs.
On June 27, West Gotomska set out from Reykjavík bound for Russia once more, this time with Convoy PQ-17
Convoy PQ-17
PQ 17 was the code name for an Allied World War II convoy in the Arctic Ocean. In July 1942, the Arctic convoys suffered a significant defeat when Convoy PQ 17 lost 24 of its 35 merchant ships during a series of heavy enemy daylight attacks which lasted a week. On 27 June, the ships sailed...
. On July 4, the convoy received an order from the British Admiralty to disperse, as German
Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
capital ship
Capital ship
The capital ships of a navy are its most important warships; they generally possess the heaviest firepower and armor and are traditionally much larger than other naval vessels...
s were thought to be on course to intercept. This order would have disastrous results, as the dispersed vessels became easy pickings for German U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
s and aircraft. Of the 33 ships in the convoy, only nine would make it through to their destination, the other 24 being lost to enemy action. West Gotomska was one of the lucky few to survive the voyage.
By November, West Gotomska was back in Britain, preparing for another voyage to Russia with Convoy JW-51A. The convoy departed Loch Ewe
Loch Ewe
Loch Ewe is a sea loch in the region of in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. The shores are inhabited by a traditionally Gàidhlig speaking people living in or sustained by crofting villages, the most notable of which, situated on the north-eastern shore, is the Aultbea settlement...
on 15 December, arriving at Kola Inlet, Russia on Christmas Day. With 10 passengers and a return cargo of timber, West Gotomska departed Kola Inlet for Loch Ewe with Convoy RA-53 on 1 March, arriving safely at Loch Ewe once again on the 14th.
Return to the Americas
On 24 March 1943, West Gotomska set out from Liverpool bound for New York City with Convoy ON-175. However, the ship straggled, and was diverted to IcelandIceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
instead, arriving on the 31st. On 19 April, West Gotomska joined a slower convoy, ONS-4, to complete the crossing, arriving at Halifax, Nova Scotia on 5 May, and from there making her way to Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
and New York. From New York, she proceeded on 11 June to Guantanamo, Cuba, arriving on the 18th. Diverted to Galveston via Key West, Florida
Key West, Florida
Key West is a city in Monroe County, Florida, United States. The city encompasses the island of Key West, the part of Stock Island north of U.S. 1 , Sigsbee Park , Fleming Key , and Sunset Key...
in late June, she retraced the same route to arrive once more at Guantanamo in August.
West Gotomska was subsequently chartered to Cia Sud Americana of Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
and renamed SS Andalien. Her movements after this point are unknown, but she remained under charter to the Chilean firm until 1947, and was scrapped by Northern Metals of Philadelphia in 1948.