USS Black Hawk (AD-9)

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USS Black Hawk (AD-9) circa the 1920s.
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Class:        BLACK HAWK (AD-9)
Design:        Cargo, 1913
Displacement (tons):        5,690 light, 8,900 full
Dimensions (feet):        420.2' oa, 404.5' pp x 53.75' wl x 21.6' mx
Original Armament:        4-5"/51
Later armaments:        4-5"/51 4-20mm (1942);
4-3"/50 2-1.1"Q 16-20mm (1943); 4-3"/50 2-40mmT 16-20mm (1945)
Complement:        480 (1929)
Speed (kts.):        13
Propulsion (HP):        3,400
Machinery:        Vert. 4-exp., 1 screw

Construction:

AD	Name	Acq.	Builder	Keel	Launch	Commiss.
9	BLACK HAWK	13 Dec 17	William Cramp & Sons	--	19 Jul 13	15 May 18

Disposition:

AD	Name	Decomm.	Strike	Disposal	Fate	MA Sale
9	BLACK HAWK	15 Aug 46	25 Sep 46	15 Aug 46	MC/D	10 Feb 48

Class Notes:
SANTA CATALINA was the second of three freighters built by Cramp for the Grace Line. The first, SANTA CLARA (ID-4523), was acquired in September 1918 as a cargo ship, and she and the third, SANTA CECILIA (ID-4008), served as troop transports after the armistace. SANTA CATALINA was ordered taken over on 3 Dec 17 and was purchased on 13 Dec 17 for conversion to a tender and repair ship for the Mine Force. She was to have the same ship's complement as BRIDGEPORT (AD-10) plus flag accommodations. She was to have repair equipment for the upkeep of ten vessels of from 4,000 to 6,000 tons and 18 large seagoing tugs, including a foundry, welding and cutting outfits, a carpenter shop, an optical shop, and a small drafting room. She was to carry refrigerated stores for 1,000 men in addition to her own complement for six weeks, dry provisions and clothing for 4,000 men for three months, general (GSK) stores for all vessels of the force for three months, and repair materials for six months. She was to have hold space for extra cordage, reels of wire, buoys, water kites, sweep wires, and other special Mine Force material plus a distilling plant for 10,000 gallons of potable water in excess of her own requirements. Her assigned battery was four 5" guns and two 3" AA guns, although the 3" were not installed. The ship was renamed BLACK HAWK on 26 Dec 17 and was commissioned at Hoboken, N.J, on 15 May 18 after extensive conversion. On 2 Jul 18 Commander Mine Force hoisted his flag in her in the United Kingdom and she served as flagahip of the Mine Force during both the laying and the removal of the North Sea mine barrage.

On 25 Nov 19, shortly after returning from Devonport, England, to New York, BLACK HAWK was assigned duty as tender to Destroyer Squadrons, U.S. Atlantic Fleet. She was designated AD-9 when the Navy's standard hull classification scheme was implemented on 17 Jul 20. On 4 Nov 20 CNO made her assignment to the destroyer force permanent and directed that equipment for torpedo stowage and air compressors be installed during the overhaul at the New York Navy Yard that was then in progress. In June 1922 the tender sailed from Newport, R.I., for Asiatric waters and on 27 Aug 22 she commenced 20 years of duty as tender to destroyers on the Asiatic Station at Chefoo, China. In December 1939 a material inspection rated the state of preservation of her weather decks, topsides, and some machinery spaces as "poor" and noted that numerous alterations and repairs had been deferred or completed only in part because of the assumptin that the vessel would not remain in service many more years. She finally left the Far East in May 1942 for a much needed stateside overhaul (November 1942 to March 1943) followed by service in Alaska and brief postwar service back in the Far East.

Ship Notes:

AD	Name	Notes
9	BLACK HAWK	Ex SANTA CATALINA (ID-2140, completed Oct 13). Converted at Fletcher's Shipyard, Hoboken, N. J. Repair ship until November 1919, then destroyer tender. To buyer 17 Mar 48, scrapped by 13 May 48.