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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060
Photo #  NH 105231:  S.S. Roepat, later USS Roepat (ID # 2536) circa March 1918

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

S.S. Roepat (Dutch Freighter, 1914)
Served as USS Roepat (ID # 2536) in 1918-1919

Roepat, a 7563 gross ton (16,100 tons displacement) cargo ship, was built at Port Glasgow, Scotland, in 1914 for the Netherlands Steamship Co. She was seized at San Francisco, California by the United States Government on 20 March 1918 under the right of angary, which allowed a belligerent power to use the property of a neutral nation if necessary, subject to full indemnification. While under U.S. Shipping Board control she steamed from San Francisco to New York, where the Navy took her over on 11 May and commissioned her on 16 May 1918 as USS Roepat (ID # 2536). The ship left from New York in early June on her first transatlantic voyage, delivering Army supplies to St. Nazaire, France, after a ten day crossing. In August she loaded another Army cargo at Norfolk, Virginia, and delivered it to Marseilles, France, in September. In early November Roepat departed New York on her third Army supply voyage, this time to Verdon, France. Arriving at Norfolk in December, she moved to Baltimore in January 1919 and, after bunkering in New Orleans, carried to Cette, France, on behalf of the Shipping Board, a cargo of wheat and grain consigned to the Swiss Government. Returning to New York in May, she loaded another Shipping Board cargo at Portland, Maine and delivered it to Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in late June. On 30 June 1919 Roepat was decommissioned and returned to her Dutch owner, who operated her until 1933, when she was scrapped in Japan.

This page features the only view we have concerning the Dutch freighter Roepat, which was USS Roepat (ID # 2536) 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 105231

S.S. Roepat
(Dutch Freighter, 1914)

In port wearing Dutch neutrality markings, possibly at San Francisco when taken over by the U.S. Shipping Board in early April 1918. This ship was in commission as USS Roepat (ID # 2536) from 16 May 1918 to 30 June 1919.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 55KB; 740 x 380 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