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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060
Photo #  NH 105295:  S.S. Aurora circa late 1918.

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- CIVILIAN SHIPS --

S.S. Aurora (American Freighter, 1918)
Originally S.S. War Compass. Later S.S. Carabinier, Yzerhandel, Belgica, Haarfagre, Helmi L., and Karl-Erik

Aurora, a 2585 gross ton freighter built in 1918, was one of a series of eight small 300-foot freighters ordered from the Pusey & Jones Co. of Wilmington, Delaware, by the British and requisitioned by the U. S. Shipping Board in August 1917. All originally had British "War" names, Aurora's being War Compass, and none saw U. S. Navy service. Aurora (which was assigned the U.S. Navy registry ID # 3325) was completed in early September 1918, in time to make at least one voyage in wartime camouflage paint. She was also completed with a wartime rig, consisting of pairs of short kingposts replacing the usual single masts fore and aft, and with a single light pole mast near the smokestack to support the ship's radio antennas. In 1920 the Shipping Board sold Aurora and several of her sisters to a Belgian shipping firm. Aurora became Carabinier in 1920, Yzerhandel in 1925, Belgica in 1928, Haarfagre (Norwegian) in 1932, Helmi L. (Finnish) in 1948, and Karl-Erik in 1949. By this time her World War I rig had been replaced by a standard freighter rig of two single masts. S.S. Karl-Erik was scrapped at Ghent, Belgium, in 1960.

This page features the only views we have concerning the American freighter Aurora, previously War Compass, later Carabinier, Yzerhandel, Belgica, Haarfagre, Helmi L., and Karl-Erik.


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 105295

S.S. Aurora
(American freighter, 1918)

Probably photographed soon after completion in September 1918.
Note that she has pairs of kingposts instead of the two masts usually fitted to freighters. The alteration was probably a wartime attempt to make the ship a more difficult target for submarines. Also note her wartime camouflage.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 45KB; 740 x 260 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 105255

S.S. Karl-Erik
(American/Finnish Freighter, 1918)

This freighter was built in Delaware in 1918 as S.S. Aurora (ID # 3325) and was in commercial service as the Finnish Karl-Erik from 1949 until she was scrapped in 1960.
She originally had two pairs of short kingposts instead of masts, but these were replaced sometime after World War I by the two standard masts shown here.

Donation of Captain Stephen S. Roberts, USNR (Retired), 2007.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 62KB; 740 x 495 pixels

 


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


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Page made 25 May 2008