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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORY AND HERITAGE COMMAND
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo # NH 65594-A:  S.S. George G. Henry in 1917

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIP TYPES --

World War I Era Tankers --
Organized by Type

This page covers the 32 tankers that served in the Navy during World War I.

Caution: Not every ship bearing the characteristics shown on these pages was commissioned in the U.S. Navy. There were many World War I era ships, large and small, that were employed by the U.S. Government under commercial charter, or which operated under the flags of the United Kingdom, France, Italy and other nations. Many of these closely resemble ships that did serve in the U.S. Navy, and a large proportion wore pattern camouflage schemes very much like those carried by the Navy's ships. Approach any ship identification task with this firmly in mind!

A Note on Sources: Tonnage (in gross tons except for ships built by the Navy) and dimensions were taken from a file of World War I-era ship data cards now in the custody of the Naval Historical Center and from the 1918 and 1919 editions of the Ships Data Book (whose data usually matches that on the cards). Additional information came from Lewis P. Clephane, History of the Naval Overseas Transportation Service in World War I,, published by the Naval History Division, Washington, D.C., in 1969, and also from the 1918-1919 and 1919-1920 editions of Lloyds Register of Shipping and the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

This page features a list of groups of World War I era U.S. Navy tankers, defined by ships' physical characteristics, with links to pages dedicated to each group of ships. Those pages provide further links to the individual ships in each group. Representative photographs are also presented for ship groups and for individual vessels.


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

  • In the listings below, click the Number (of) Ships entry to access a table of the individual U.S. Navy ships with that specific group's characteristics.
  • Click the small photographs to access the Picture Data Sheets for those images.

  • Photo # NH 61686:  USS Arethusa in 1898

    WWI era U.S. Navy tankers with ENGINES AND SMOKESTACKS AMIDSHIPS:

  • FOUR SHIPS





  • Photo # NH 70471-A:  USS Chestnut Hill in 1918

    WWI era U.S. Navy tankers with ENGINES AND SMOKESTACKS AFT AND ONE SINGLE MAST:

  • THREE SHIPS





  • Photo # NH 65100-A:  USS Broad Arrow in 1918

    WWI era U.S. Navy tankers with ENGINES AND SMOKESTACKS AFT AND TWO SINGLE MASTS:

  • FIFTEEN SHIPS





  • Photo # NH 65594-A:  S.S. George G. Henry in 1917

    WWI era U.S. Navy tankers with ENGINES AND SMOKESTACKS AFT AND THREE SINGLE MASTS:

  • EIGHT SHIPS





  • Photo # NH 105249:  USS Robert L. Barnes

    WWI era U.S. Navy tankers with ENGINES AND SMOKESTACKS AFT AND FOUR SINGLE MASTS:

  • TWO SHIPS





  • NOTES:

  • To the best of our knowledge, the pictures referenced here are all in the Public Domain, and can therefore be freely downloaded and used for any purpose.

  • Some images linked from this page may bear obsolete credit lines citing the organization name: "Naval Historical Center". Effective 1 December 2008 the name should be cited as: "Naval History and Heritage Command".


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


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    Page made 4 January 2008
    Coding updated 11 May 2009