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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo # NH 65098-A:  SS West Bridge on 25 May 1918, the day before she was taken over by the Navy

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS West Bridge (ID # 2888), 1918-1919.
Originally the civilian freighter West Bridge (1918)

USS West Bridge, a 12,200-ton (displacement) cargo ship, was built in 1918 at Seattle, Washington, as the civilian freighter of the same name. The U.S. Navy took her over upon completion in May 1918 and almost immediately placed her in commission. Assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service, the ship's maiden voyage, to the East Coast with a cargo of flour in June and July 1918, was slowed by engine troubles, a problem common with World War I emergency ships. At the beginning of August West Bridge left New York as part of a convoy bound for France. While stopped in the eastern Atlantic on 15 August, due to another machinery breakdown, she was torpedoed twice by a German submarine. Though gravely damaged and abandoned by her crew, the ship was towed to Brest, France, where she was drydocked and received initial repairs. West Bridge did not return to duty until March 1919. She remained in Navy service until the beginning of December 1919, when she was decommissioned and returned to the U.S. Shipping Board. West Bridge appears to not have had any further active employment and was abandoned in 1928.

This page features, and provides links to, all the views we have related to USS West Bridge (ID # 2888) and to the civilian freighter West Bridge.

For other views concerning this ship, see:

  • USS West Bridge (ID # 2888) -- Torpedoed, 15 August 1918.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: NH 65098-A

    West Bridge
    (American Freighter, 1918)

    Photographed by her builder, J.F. Duthie & Company, Seattle, Washington, on 25 May 1918, showing her as completed, painted in pattern camouflage. On 25 May she was acquired by the Navy, and on 27 May she was placed in commission as USS West Bridge (ID # 2888). The ship was returned to the U.S. Shipping Board on 1 December 1919.

    The original print is in National Archives' Record Group 19-LCM.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 87KB; 740 x 600 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 105606

    S.S. West Bridge
    (American freighter, 1918)

    Probably photographed upon completion in May 1918. This ship was in commission as USS West Bridge (ID # 2888) from May 1918 to December 1919.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 49KB; 740 x 270 pixels

     


    For other views concerning this ship, see:

  • USS West Bridge (ID # 2888) -- Torpedoed, 15 August 1918.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 3 December 2003
    New image added 9 April 2008