Dakotan was built by the Maryland Steel Company as one of eight sister ships for the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company, and was employed in inter-coastal service via the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and the Panama Canal after it opened. During World War I, as USAT Dakotan, the ship carried cargo and animals to France. Dakotan was in the first American convoy to sail to France after the United States entered the war in April 1917. In Navy service, USS Dakotan carried cargo to France and returned over 8,800 American troops after the Armistice.
After her Navy service ended in 1919, she was returned to her original owners and resumed relatively uneventful cargo service over the next twenty years. Dakotan ran aground off the coast of Mexico in 1923 but was freed and towed to port for repairs. Early in World War II, the ship was requisitioned by the War Shipping Administration and transferred to the Soviet Union under the terms of Lend-Lease in December 1942. Sailing as SS Zyrianin, the ship remained a part of the Soviet merchant fleet into the late 1960s.
Design and construction
In September 1911, the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company placed an order with the Maryland Steel Company of Sparrows Point, Maryland, for four new cargo ships—Minnesotan, Dakotan, Pennsylvanian, and Montanan.[Note 1] The contract cost of the ships was set at the construction cost plus an 8% profit for Maryland Steel, but with a maximum cost of $640,000 per ship. The construction was financed by Maryland Steel with a credit plan that called for a 5% down payment in cash with nine monthly installments for the balance. The deal had provisions that allowed some of the nine installments to be converted into longer-term notes or mortgages. The final cost of Dakotan, including financing costs, was $66.00 per deadweight ton, which totaled just under $672,000.[2]
Dakotan (Maryland Steel yard no. 125)[4] was the second ship built under the original contract.[Note 2] She was launched on 10 August 1912,[9] and delivered to American-Hawaiian in November.[4]Dakotan was 6,537gross register tons(GRT),[3] and was 428feet 9inches (130.68m) in length and 53feet 6inches (16.31m)abeam.[6] She had a deadweight tonnage of 10,175LTDWT and a storage capacity of 492,519 cubic feet (13,946.6m3).[3] A single steam engine with oil-fired boilers driving a single screw propeller provided her power;[10] her speed was 15 knots (28km/h).[6] The steamer had accommodations for 18 officers, 40 crewmen, and could carry up to 16 passengers.[9]
Early career
When Dakotan began sailing for American-Hawaiian, the company shipped cargo from East Coast ports via the Tehuantepec Route to West Coast ports and Hawaii, and vice versa. Shipments on the Tehuantepec Route arrived at Mexican ports—Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, for eastbound cargo, and Coatzacoalcos for westbound cargo—and traversed the Isthmus of Tehuantepec on the Tehuantepec National Railway.[12] Eastbound shipments were primarily sugar and pineapple from Hawaii, while westbound cargoes were general in nature.[13]Dakotan sailed in this service on the east side of North America.[14][15]
At the time of the United States occupation of Veracruz on 21 April 1914, Dakotan was in port at Coatzacoalcos.[16] There she loaded 127 American refugees from sugar plantations in the area and steamed to Veracruz.[17] As a consequence of the American action, the Huerta-led Mexican government closed the Tehuantepec National Railway to American shipping.[18]
In early May, The New York Times reported that Dakotan had sailed to Cristóbal to pick up a cargo of sugar that had been originally slated for transport via Tehuantepec. According to the article, the sugar was to be carried on barges through the still-unopened Panama Canal, then loaded onto Dakotan.[19] There was no indication in the newspaper whether this mission was completed or not, but it is known that American-Hawaii returned to its historic route of sailing cargo around South America via the Straits of Magellan after Tehuantepec was closed but before the canal opened.[18]
With the opening of the Panama Canal on 15 August, American-Hawaiian ships switched to using the canal.[18] In early September, American-Hawaiian announced that Dakotan would sail on a route from New York via the canal to San Francisco and on to either Seattle or Tacoma.[20] When landslides closed the canal in October 1915, all American-Hawaiian ships, including Dakotan, returned to the Straits of Magellan route.[21]
In 1916, Dakotan was one of several American-Hawaiian cargo ships chartered by the DuPont Nitrate Company to carry sodium nitrate from Chile to the United States.[22]Dakotan and the other cargo ships in this South American service would typically deliver loads of coal, gasoline, or steel in exchange for the sodium nitrate.[23] In May, The Christian Science Monitor reported on what may have been a typical delivery for Dakotan. The ship had left Tocopilla with 91,872 bags—about 9,000 long tons (9,100t)—of sodium nitrate for use in making explosives, and, after transiting the newly reopened Panama Canal, arrived in Philadelphia.[22][Note 3]
World War I
After the United States declared war on Germany in April 1917, the United States Army, needing transports to move its men and materiel to France, convened a select committee of shipping executives who pored over registries of American shipping to evaluate transport capabilities. The committee selected Dakotan, her sister ship Montanan, and twelve other American-flagged ships that were sufficiently fast, could carry enough fuel in their bunkers for transatlantic crossings, and, most importantly, were in port or not far at sea.[24][25] After Dakotan discharged her last load of cargo, she was officially handed over to the Army on 29 May.[5]
Before troop transportation began, all of the ships were hastily refitted. Of the fourteen ships, four, including Dakotan and Montanan, were designated to carry animals and cargo; the other ten were designated to carry human passengers. Ramps and stalls were built on the four ships chosen to carry animals. Gun platforms were installed on each ship before it docked at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where the guns were put in place.[26][Note 4] All the ships were manned by merchant officers and crews but carried military personnel: two U.S. Navy officers, Navy gun crews, quartermasters, signalmen, and wireless operators. The senior Navy officer on board would take control if a ship came under attack.[27]
The American convoy carrying the first units of the American Expeditionary Force was separated into four groups;[Note 5]Dakotan was in the fourth group with her sister ship Montanan, Army transports El Occidente and Edward Luckenbach, and accompanied by the group's escorts: cruiserSt. Louis, U.S. Navy transportHancock, and destroyersShaw, Ammen, and Flusser.[28]Dakotan departed with her group on the morning of 17 June for Brest, France, steaming at an 11-knot (20km/h) pace.[29] A thwarted submarine attack on the first convoy group,[30] and reports of heavy submarine activity off of Brest resulted in a change in the convoy's destination to Saint-Nazaire.[31]
Sources do not reveal Dakotan's movements over the next months, but on 6 September 1917, the Naval Armed Guardsmen aboard Dakotan shelled a German submarine after its periscope had been sighted.[33] On 29 January 1919, Dakotan was transferred to the Navy and commissioned the same day.[6] Outfitted for service as a troop transport to return American servicemen from Europe, Dakotan made five transatlantic roundtrips to France as part of the Navy's Cruiser and Transport Force between 15 February and 20 July. Eastbound journeys delivered cargo to Saint-Nazaire and Bordeaux for the Army of Occupation; westbound trips returned soldiers to the United States. Dakotan carried a total of 8,812 troops on her five westbound voyages.[34]Dakotan returned from her final voyage on 20 July,[34] was decommissioned at New York on 31 July, and returned to American-Hawaiian the same day.[6]
Interwar years
Dakotan resumed cargo service with American-Hawaiian after her return from World War I service. Although the company had abandoned its original Hawaiian sugar routes,[35]Dakotan continued inter-coastal service through the Panama Canal in a relatively uneventful manner over the next twenty years. One incident of note occurred on 20 August 1923 when Dakotan issued distress calls after she ran aground at Cabo San Lázaro on the Pacific coast of Mexico. The Navy transport ship Henderson and the Standard OiltankerCharles Pratt responded to Dakotan's calls.[1]Charles Pratt successfully freed Dakotan, which had suffered damage to her rudder post in the accident. The American-Hawaiian ship Nevadan arrived and towed Dakotan to Los Angeles for repairs.[36]
In 1933, two members of Dakotan's crew had medical emergencies that received news coverage. The first, in February, involved a seaman with an abdominal disorder. He was transferred from the eastbound Dakotan to the Dollar Line ocean liner President Hayes which carried him to Los Angeles to receive medical attention.[37] The second occurred in July when Dakotan's quartermaster came down with appendicitis near Balboa. Radio calls for assistance brought the U.S. Navy's Destroyer Division 7 to Dakotan's aid.[Note 6] The destroyer unit's medical officer boarded Dakotan and performed an appendectomy on the man, who was too ill to be moved off the ship.[38]
World War II and later career
After the United States entered World War II, in 1941 - though most of Europe had been involved since summer 1939 - Dakotan was requisitioned by the War Shipping Administration (WSA), but continued to be operated by American-Hawaiian.[39] In December 1942, Dakotan was transferred to the Soviet Union under Lend-Lease, and renamed Zyrianin (ЗырянинRussian pronunciation:[zɨˈrʲanʲɪn]).[7][40] Throughout the rest of the war, Dakotan made at least one trip to the United States, being photographed in port at San Francisco in August 1943.[40] Near the end of World War II, the WSA offered a payment of $670,210 to American-Hawaiian for the former Dakotan as part of a $7.2 million settlement for eleven American-Hawaiian ships that had been requisitioned by the WSA.[39]Zyrianin remained a part of the Soviet merchant fleet through the 1960s, and was listed in Lloyd's Register until the 1970–71 edition.[40]
↑ Maryland Steel had built three ships—Kentuckian, Georgian, and Honolulan—for American-Hawaiian in 1909 in what proved to be a satisfactory arrangement for both companies. See: Cochran and Ginger, p. 358.
↑ Further contracts on similar terms were signed in November 1911 and May 1912 to build four additional ships: Panaman, Washingtonian, Iowan, Ohioan. See: Cochran and Ginger, p. 358, and Colton.
↑ Dakotan was the first steamer to arrive in Philadelphia via the Panama Canal after its reopening.
↑ The only exception was for SSFinland, an American Line steamer in transatlantic service to Liverpool. Finland had already been outfitted for guns in early 1917.
↑ The individual groups of the first convoy were typically counted as separate convoys in post-war sources. See, for example, Crowell and Wilson, Appendix G, p. 603.
SS American was a steel-hulled, single propeller cargo ship built at Chester, Pennsylvania, by the Delaware River Iron Shipbuilding and Engine Works for the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company and the Hawaiian sugar trade. During World War I service for the United States Navy, the ship was known as USS American (ID-2292). Late in her career for American-Hawaiian, she was renamed SS Honolulan.
USS Lenape (ID-2700) was a troop transport for the United States Navy in 1918, during World War I. She was launched in 1912 as SS Lenape, a passenger steamer for the Clyde Line. After the entry of the United States into World War I in 1917, she was chartered by the United States Army as transport USAT Lenape. After her Navy service ended in October 1918, she was returned to the Army.
SS Finland was an American-flagged ocean liner built in 1902 for the Red Star Line. During World War I she served as a transport for the United States Navy named USS Finland (ID-4543). Before her Navy service in 1917, she was also USAT Finland for the United States Army.
USS Henry R. Mallory (ID-1280) was a transport for the United States Navy during World War I. She was also sometimes referred to as USS H. R. Mallory or as USS Mallory. Before her Navy service she was USAT Henry R. Mallory as a United States Army transport ship. From her 1916 launch, and after her World War I military service, she was known as SS Henry R. Mallory for the Mallory Lines. Pressed into service as a troopship in World War II by the War Shipping Administration, she was torpedoed by the German submarine U-402 in the North Atlantic Ocean and sank with the loss of 272 men—over half of those on board.
SS El Occidente was a cargo ship for the Morgan Line, a subsidiary of the Southern Pacific Company. During World War I, she was known as USAT El Occidente in service with the United States Army and as USS El Occidente (ID-3307) in service with the United States Navy. At the end of war, she reverted to her original name of SS El Occidente.
SS El Sol was a cargo ship built in 1910 for the Morgan Line, a subsidiary of the Southern Pacific Company. During World War I, she was known as USAT El Sol in service with the United States Army and as USS El Sol (ID-4505) in service with the United States Navy. At the end of war, she reverted to her original name of SS El Sol.
SS El Oriente was a cargo ship built in 1910 for the Morgan Line, a subsidiary of the Southern Pacific Company. During World War I, she was known as USS El Oriente (ID-4504) in service with the United States Navy. At the end of war, she reverted to her original name of SS El Oriente. During World War II she was chartered by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as SS Henri Dunant, but reverted to her original name of SS El Oriente at the end of the charter.
SS Pennsylvanian was a cargo ship built in 1913 for the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company. During World War I she was requisitioned by the United States Navy and commissioned as USS Pennsylvanian (ID-3511) in September 1918, and renamed two months later to USS Scranton. After her naval service, her original name of Pennsylvanian was restored.
SS Washingtonian was a cargo ship launched in 1913 by the Maryland Steel Company of Sparrows Point, Maryland, near Baltimore, as one of eight sister ships for the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company. At the time of her launch, she was the largest cargo ship under American registry. During the United States occupation of Veracruz in April 1914, Washingtonian was chartered by the United States Department of the Navy for service as a non-commissioned refrigerated supply ship for the U.S. fleet stationed off the Mexican coast.
SS Montanan was a cargo ship built in 1912 for the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company. During World War I service for the United States Army Transport Service, she was known as USAT Montanan. Montanan was built by the Maryland Steel Company as one of eight sister ships for the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company, and was employed in inter-coastal service via the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and the Panama Canal after it opened.
SS Minnesotan was a cargo ship built in 1912 for the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company. During World War I she was known as USAT Minnesotan in service for the United States Army and USS Minnesotan (ID-4545) in service for the United States Navy. She ended her career as the SS Maria Luisa R. under Italian ownership. She was built by the Maryland Steel Company as one of eight sister ships for American-Hawaiian, and was employed in inter-coastal service via the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and the Panama Canal after it opened.
SS Panaman was a cargo ship built in 1913 for the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company. The ship was sometimes incorrectly referred to as SS Panamanian. During World War I she was known as USAT Panaman in service for the United States Army and USS Panaman (ID-3299) in service for the United States Navy. Late in her career she was known as SS Marcella for the Italian government.
SS Iowan was a cargo ship built in 1914 for the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company. During World War I she was taken over by the United States Navy and commissioned as USS Iowan (ID-3002). During World War II, the ship was transferred to the Soviet Union and renamed SS Tashkent.
SS Ohioan was a cargo ship built in 1914 for the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company. During World War I, she was taken over by the United States Navy and commissioned as USS Ohioan (ID-3280).
The American-Hawaiian Steamship Company was founded in 1899 to carry cargos of sugar from Hawaii to the United States and manufactured goods back to Hawaii. Brothers-in-law George Dearborn and Lewis Henry Lapham were the key players in the founding of the company. The company began in 1899 with three ships, operated nine by 1904 and was operating seventeen by 1911 with three on order.
SS Kentuckian was a cargo ship built in 1910 for the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company. During World War I she was known as USAT Kentuckian in service for the United States Army and USS Kentuckian (ID-1544) in service for the United States Navy. After her Navy career, she reverted to her original name of SS Kentuckian.
USS West Alsek (ID-3119) was a cargo ship in the United States Navy during World War I. She had been built as SS West Alsek for the United States Shipping Board (USSB) as part of the West boats, cargo ships built on the West Coast of the United States. She sailed on two voyages for the U.S. Navy before she was decommissioned after the Armistice.
USS West Bridge (ID-2888) was a Design 1013 cargo ship in the United States Navy during World War I. She was begun as War Topaz for the British Government but was completed as West Bridge. After being decommissioned from the Navy, the ship returned to civilian service as West Bridge, but was renamed Barbara Cates, and Pan Gulf over the course of her commercial career under American registry.
USS West Lianga (ID-2758) was a cargo ship for the United States Navy during World War I. She was later known as SS Helen Whittier and SS Kalani in civilian service under American registry, as SS Empire Cheetah under British registry, and as SS Hobbema under Dutch registry.
USS Radnor (ID-3023) was a cargo ship and later troop transport that served with the United States Navy in 1918–19, during and shortly after World War I. The ship later went into merchant service, and in 1948 under Chinese ownership reportedly became the first all-Chinese ship to visit South America. Radnor was originally ordered as SS War Indian by a private company, but with U.S. entry into World War I in April 1917, she was requisitioned by the U.S. Navy for use as a cargo ship. Commissioned as USS Radnor (ID-3023) in May 1918, the ship spent the remainder of the war transporting cargoes for the Navy. After the war, USS Radnor was converted into a troop transport and used to repatriate U.S. troops home from France.
References
1 2 "Freight steamer ashore". The New York Times. 21 August 1923. p.3.
↑ "Dakotan, pulled off reef, being towed to port". The Los Angeles Times. 22 August 1923. p.II-3.
↑ Cave, Wayne B. (13 February 1933). "Shipping news and activities at Los Angeles Harbor". Los Angeles Times. p.11.
↑ "Destroyer doctor saves freighter officer at sea". The New York Times. 13 July 1933. p.39. The article does not state on which ship the doctor was stationed.
1 2 Stone, Leon (31 March 1945). "U.S. awards $7,247,637 to Hawaiian ship firm". The Christian Science Monitor. p.4.
1 2 3 Naval Historical Center (17 April 2005). "Picture Data: Photo #NH 91246". Online Library of Selected Images. Navy Department, Naval Historical Center. Retrieved 14 August 2008.
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