USS Pompey, a 1285 gross ton (3085 tons displacement) freighter, was built in 1897 at Sunderland, England, as the British merchant ship Harlech. She was purchased in April 1898 and commissioned as USS Pompey in May 1898 for service as a collier in the Spanish-American War. During June and July 1898 Pompey supported U.S. naval forces off Cuba. Moving to Key West and then to Norfolk, Virginia, during August, she decommissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in January 1899.
Pompey recommissioned in 1901 for service in the Asiatic Fleet and supported U.S. naval forces in the Far East until decommissioned at the Cavite Naval Station in June 1905. Placed back in commission in July 1906, the collier continued to serve on the Asiatic Station with the exception of a period in 1907-1909 when she was assigned to the Pacific Fleet. By 1912 she had been redesignated as a Tender to Torpedo Vessels and, along with the old wooden receiving ship Mohican, helped support the Asiatic Fleet's five destroyers. Pompey was decommissioned at the Olongapo Naval Station in February 1916.
After being recommissioned in November 1917 Pompey probably served as a storeship--a role she had assumed at least part of the time as early as 1915. She was designated AF-5 in July 1920, was decommissioned in July 1921, and was stricken from the Navy List in March 1922. The ship was transferred to the Army in July 1922 but by 1923 had become the Philippine merchantman Pompey. She was renamed Samal in 1931 and was sunk by aircraft bombs at Manila in late December 1941.
This page features the only views we have concerning USS Pompey and S.S. Harlech, Pompey, and Samal.
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NOTES:
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 19 February 2008
New image added 6 May 2009