Requisitioned Ships: Illustrations

Bethlehem Steel Co., Maryland Plant, Sparrows Point

S.S. Cubore (Yard no. 160) Pierside with the large hatches to her ore holds open. She was released to Ore S.S. on 15 August 1917 and delivered to the EFC on 7 September 1917. She served as a U.S. Army Cargo Transport that was not operated by the Navy. She was torpedoed on 15 August 1918 and was replaced in July 1920 with a new 11500-ton 468'oa motor ship with the same name built by Bethlehem's Fore River yard. Photo No. None Source: Shipscribe
S.S. Feltore (Yard no. 161) Underway in wartime camouflage. This ship was released to Ore S.S. on 29 October 1917 and delivered to the EFC a day later. Photo No. None Source: Shipscribe
S.S. Santore (Yard no. 165) At an ore loading pier with her large hatches open. She was delivered to the EFC on 3 March 1918, inspected by the Navy on 21 March 1918, delivered for operation on 30 August 1918, and released to Ore S.S. on 17 October 1918. This photo is from the back of the ship's Navy inspection data card and may date from the inspection. Photo No. None Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command, Ship Histories Branch, SP/ID card.
S.S. Firmore (Yard no. 166) Photographed on 5 February 1944 off Chincoteague, Va., headed southwest, by a blimp from ZP-14 based at NAS Weeksville, North Carolina. She had been released to Ore S.S. on 29 October 1917 while on the ways and was delivered to the EFC on 8 July 1918. Photo No. 80-G-215529 Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-80-G

S.S. Walter D. Munson (Yard no. 163) Probably photographed around the time of her completion. She was delivered to the EFC on 20 September 1917 and reconveyed to Munson on 11 October 1917. She was in commission in the Navy from 19 April 1918 to 14 April 1919. See her WWI page. Photo No. NH 65042 Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command

S.S. Mangore (Yard no. 168) Departing a U.S. port on 12 November 1942. This ore carrier was a smaller version of the Cubore type, built for the same owners. She had been released to Ore S.S. on 29 October 1917 while on the ways and was delivered to the EFC on 11 June 1918. Photo No. Mangore1_9656_002 Source: vesselhistory.marad.dot.gov/ShipHistory/Detail/9656

S.S. Ampetco (Yard no. 172) Photographed by her builder on 6 May 1918, the date of her delivery. Built for the American Petroleum Co. of Rotterdam, The Netherlands, she was reconveyed to the Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey on 6 January 1919. Photo No. None Source: www.aukevisser.nl/inter/id518.htm, originally from the U.S. National Archives.

USS Cape May, ex War Saturn (Yard no. 174) Photographed by her builder as a cargo ship on 8 November 1918, two days after her Navy inspection. She had been delivered to the EFC on 22 October 1918 and commissioned in the Navy on 25 October 1918. After one cargo voyage she was transferred on 24 January 1919 from the Naval Overseas Transportation Service to the Cruiser and Transport Force and converted to a troop transport because of a shortage of transports to bring troops home after the war. She was decommissioned on 25 August 1919. Click here for a plan. See her WWI page. Photo No. NH 796 Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command
USS Cape May, ex War Saturn (Yard no. 174) Arriving at the Bush Terminal, Brooklyn, New York, as a troopship after a voyage from France between March and July 1919. The structures added on deck fore and aft were latrines for the troops. The harbor passenger steamer Ursula is greeting her in the foreground. She was probably photographed from on board USS Santa Paula, also a cargo ship converted to a transport. Photo No. NH 103561 Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command
S.S. Wheaton, ex War Jupiter (Yard no. 175) Photographed by her builder on 26 November 1918 soon after being delivered to the EFC on 21 November 1918. The Navy had planned to take her over at Baltimore upon completion but on 14 November 1918 they decided to have her converted into a refrigerator ship at New York and to take her over there after the conversion. The end of the war intervened and she was not acquired. She was delivered to the EFC's Division of Operations on 21 January 1919. Photo No. None Source: NARA RG-19-A-27