USS Kerwood (ID-1489)

USS Kerwood (ID-1489) was a cargo ship that served in the United States Navy from 1918-1919.

History
United States
Name: USS Kerwood
Namesake: Previous name retained
Builder: Richardson, Duck and Company, Thornaby-on-Tees, England
Yard number: 616[1]
Launched: 1911[1]
Completed: 1911
Acquired: 5 November 1918
Commissioned: 5 November 1918
Decommissioned: 19 March 1919
Fate: Transferred to United States Shipping Board for simultaneous return to owner, 19 March 1919
Notes:
  • Served as merchant ship Budapest and Kerwood 1911-1918 and as Kerwood in 1919
  • Mined, 12 December 1919[2]
General characteristics
Type: Cargo ship
Displacement: 2,321 long tons (2,358 t)
Length: 331 ft (101 m)
Beam: 48 ft 4 in (14.73 m)
Draft: 21 ft 4 in (6.50 m)
Installed power: steam
Propulsion: screw
Speed: 10 kn (19 km/h)
Complement: 52
Armament: two 3 in (76 mm) guns

Kerwood was built as the merchant ship SS Budapest at Thornaby-on-Tees, England, by Richardson, Duck and Company.[1] She was later renamed SS Kerwood. The U.S. Navy acquired Kerwood for World War I service on 5 November 1918, assigned her the naval registry Identification Number (Id. No.) 1489, and commissioned her the same day as USS Kerwood, with Lieutenant Commander B. Ellis in command.

Assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service, Kerwood commenced coaling runs from Cardiff, Wales, to French ports. She continued these operations until 28 December 1918, when she arrived at Bordeaux, France with 1,000 tons of United States Army stores. From Bordeaux, she proceeded to Cardiff before departing for the U.S. on 29 January 1919. She arrived at Norfolk, Virginia on 27 February.

Kerwood was decommissioned on 19 March and transferred to the United States Shipping Board for simultaneous return to her owner.

Once again SS Kerwood, the ship returned to commercial service. On 12 December 1919, with 40 troops on board, she struck a naval mine laid during World War I[2] and sank 20 nmi (37 km) north of Terschelling Island, in the Frisian Islands on the northern coast of the Netherlands. The transport Edilyn arrived in New York Harbor on 1 January 1920 with 25 members of the Kerwood crew aboard.[3]

Notes
  1. "RICHARDSON, DUCK & Company Limited". Teesbuiltships. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
  2. NavSource Online (at http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/171489.htm) reports the year of sinking as 1991, but this is almost certainly a typographical error in which the last two digits of the year were transposed.
  3. United Press, “Transport Brings Home Crew Of Wrecked Steamer,” Riverside Daily Press, Riverside, California, Thursday evening 1 January 1920, Volume XXXV, Number 1, page 1.
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References

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