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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060
Photo #  NH 105221:  S.S. Levisa, later USS Levisa (ID # 1573) circa June 1917

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

S.S. Levisa (American Freighter, 1916)
Served as USS Levisa (ID # 1573) in 1918-1919
Later S.S. Bjerka and Foo Ming

Levisa, a 2118 gross ton (3800 tons displacement) freighter, was built at Wyandotte, Michigan, in 1916. Around September 1917 she was chartered by General Pershing to carry Army supplies within the European theater. The Navy took her over at Cardiff, Wales, on 19 November 1918, placed her in commission as USS Levisa (ID # 1573) and assigned her to the Army coal trade, transporting coal between British and French ports with her home base at Cardiff. In February 1919 she sailed from Penarth, Wales for New York with a cargo of Army explosives. Levisa was decommissioned at New York on 1 April 1919 and delivered to the Shipping Board for return to her owners, the United Fruit Company of New York City. She became the Norwegian Bjerka in the 1930s and later the Chinese Foo Ming. The elderly ship was scrapped in Taiwan in 1958.

This page features the only view we have concerning the American freighter Levisa, which was USS Levisa (ID # 1573) in 1918-1919.


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 105221

S.S. Levisa
(American Freighter, 1916)

In port, possibly when inspected by the Third Naval District on 11 June 1917. This Great Lakes-built freighter was in commission as USS Levisa (ID # 1573) from 19 November 1918 to 1 April 1919.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 60KB; 740 x 490 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 14 August 2007