USS Sierra (ID-1634)

The first USS Sierra (ID-1634) was a troop transport of the United States Navy that served during World War I and its immediate aftermath.

For other ships with the same name, see USS Sierra.
USS Sierra (ID-1634) in port, ca. 1919.
History
United States
Name: USS Sierra
Namesake: Sierra Nevada mountain range (previous name retained)
Builder: William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Launched: 29 May 1900[1]
Completed: 1900
Acquired: 27 May 1918
Commissioned: 1 July 1918
Decommissioned: 1 October 1919
Stricken: 1 October 1919
Fate: Returned to owners 1 October 1919
Notes: Operated as commercial passenger ship SS Sierra 1900-1918 and from 1919; later renamed SS Gdansk
General characteristics
Type: Troop transport
Tonnage: 5,989 gross tons[2]
Displacement: 9,680 tons (normal)
Length: 416 ft 0 in (126.80 m)
Beam: 50 ft 2 in (15.29 m)
Draft: 24 ft 0 in (7.32 m) (mean)
Depth: 25 ft 11 in (7.90 m)
Propulsion: Steam
Speed: 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)
Complement: 284
Armament:
  • 4 × 6-inch (152-mm) guns
  • 2 × 1-pounder (0.45-kg) guns
  • 2 × machine guns

Construction and acquisition

SS Sierra was constructed as a commercial passenger ship in 1900 by William Cramp & Sons in Philadelphia for the San Francisco to Australia service via Hawaii of the Oceanic Steamship Company.[3] The ship was the first of a series of three to be built for the line with the others being Sonoma and Ventura.[4]

The U.S. Navy acquired her from the John D. Spreckel Brothers Company in San Francisco, California, on 27 May 1918 for use as a troop transport during World War I and assigned her the identification number 1634. After conversion work was complete, she was commissioned as USS Sierra (ID-1634) on 1 July 1918.

U.S. Navy career

Sierra was assigned to transatlantic service upon commissioning, and she transported troops from the United States to France until the end of World War I on 11 November 1918. After the war, she engaged in the reverse process of bringing American troops home from Europe for another eleven months.

Decommissioning and disposal

Sierra was decommissioned on 1 October 1919. On the same day, her name was stricken from the Navy list and she was returned to her owners.

Later career

As SS Sierra, the ship returned to commercial passenger service. She later was renamed SS Gdansk.[5]

  • USS Sierra at the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York, 6 July 1918, painted in pattern camouflage.
  • USS Sierra in a European port, ca. 1918.

Notes
  1. Marine Engineering (July 1900).
  2. Naval History and Heritage Command Online Library of Selected Images: U.S. Navy Ships -- USS Sierra (ID # 1634), 1918-1919
  3. Marine Engineering (July 1900), p. 302.
  4. Marine Engineering (September 1900) & 9p-393.
  5. Naval History and Heritage Command Online Library of Selected Images: U.S. Navy Ships -- USS Sierra (ID # 1634), 1918-1919

References
  • This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
  • Marine Engineering (1900). "Launches—Home and Foreign". Marine Engineering. New York: Aldrich & Donaldson. 5 (July 1900). Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  • Marine Engineering (1900). "Launches—Home and Foreign". Marine Engineering. New York: Aldrich & Donaldson. 5 (September 1900). Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  • Naval History and Heritage Command Online Library of Selected Images: U.S. Navy Ships -- USS Sierra (ID # 1634), 1918-1919 at the Library of Congress Web Archives (archived 2012-10-16)
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