USS Pensacola, a 9821-ton (displacement) cargo ship, was built at Rostock, Germany, in 1901 as the freighter Nicaria for the Hamburg-American Line. A frequent vistor to U.S. ports, she took refuge at Southport, North Carolina, after the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 made the high seas dangerous for German shipping. The ship was seized when the United States entered the conflict in April 1917 and was turned over to the Navy a month later. Renamed Pensacola in June and refitted at the Charleston (South Carolina) Navy Yard, she was placed in commission in October 1917. Soon given the registry ID # 2078, the ship entered the Navy's transatlantic cargo service. She became a unit of the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS) when that force was created in January 1918 and remained in NOTS into late 1919.
Most of Pensacola's voyages between late 1917 and November 1918 terminated at Brest, France. In 1919 she carried a cargo to Constantinople, Turkey, for the Syrian Armenian Relief, made a voyage to the Caribbean, and in June sailed from Norfolk for the Pacific. Pensacola was classified as a cargo ship (AK-7) when hull numbers were first assigned to Navy ships in July 1920. In 1921 her authorized complement of passengers was fixed at 25 first class and 150 troops. Navy plans at the end of 1921 called for her to be sold after she was relieved as a cargo ship by USS Spica (AK-16), but instead in March 1922 Pensacola became station ship at Guam. In June 1922 she was reclassified as a miscellaneous auxililary (AG-13) to reflect her new assignment. The ship was decommissioned and stricken from the Navy List in March 1925 at Mare Island, California, sold in August 1925, and scrapped soon afterwards.
This page features the only views we have concerning USS Pensacola and S.S. Nicaria.
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.
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 12 October 2008
Edited and reposted 16 September 2009