USS Craster Hall (ID-1486)

USS Craster Hall (ID-1486) was a cargo ship that served in the United States Navy from 1918 to 1919.

SS Craster Hall prior to her U.S. Navy service, with the barge Whitehall in the foreground.
History
United States
Name: USS Craster Hall
Namesake: Previous name retained
Builder: William Hamilton and Company, Port Glasgow, Scotland
Launched: 4 February 1909
Completed: May 1909
Acquired: 25 April 1918[1]
Commissioned: 9 May 1918
Decommissioned: 5 February 1919
Fate: Transferred to United States Shipping Board 5 February 1919 for return to owner
Notes:
  • Served as commercial cargo ship SS Craster Hall 1909-1918 and 1919-1927
  • Wrecked 19 June 1927
General characteristics
Type: Cargo ship
Tonnage: 4,319 Gross register tons
Displacement: 9,700 tons
Length: 392 ft 6 in (119.63 m)
Beam: 50 ft (15 m)
Draft: 24 ft (7.3 m)
Installed power: 2,000 indicated horsepower
Propulsion: One triple expansion engine, one shaft
Speed: 11 knots
Complement: 62
Armament: 1 × 5-inch (127-millimeter) gun

SS Craster Hall was built as a commercial cargo ship at Port Glasgow, Scotland, by William Hamilton and Company for C. G. Dunn and Company, Ltd., of Liverpool, England. Launched on 4 February 1909, she was delivered to C. G. Dunn in May 1909. In 1914, C. G. Dunn sold her to the United States Steel Products Company of New York City. After the United States entered World War I in 1917, the United States Shipping Board took control of Craster Hall. On 25 April 1918,[2] the Shipping Board transferred Craster Hall for World War I service to the U.S. Navy, which assigned her the naval registry Identification Number (Id. No.) 1486, and commissioned her on 9 May 1918 as USS Craster Hall with Lieutenant Commander H. L. Mortensen, USNRF, in command.

Assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service, Craster Hall made three transatlantic voyages to France between 25 May 1918 and 7 January 1919, carrying a total of 28,112 tons of cargo. She transported steel billets, mail, flatcars, United States Army trucks, engines, and airplanes to Bordeaux and Le Verdon-sur-Mer; U.S. Army supplies to Quiberon, St. Nazaire, and Nantes; and 353 horses to Pauillac.

Craster Hall was decommissioned on 5 February 1919 and transferred to the United States Shipping Board the same day for return to the United States Steel Products Company.

The ship reentered commercial service as SS Craster Hall. She was beached and wrecked on 19 June 1927 after colliding with the Imperial Oil tanker SS Reginolite off Talara Point, Peru.

Notes
  1. The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (at http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/c15/craster_hall.htm), NavSource Online (at http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/171486.htm), and the Naval Historical Center Online Library of Selected Images (at http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-civil/civsh-c/crast-hl.htm) all report this date, although the Naval Historical Center Online Library of Selected Images entry also reports the date of acquisition as 2 May 1918 without any explanation for this alternative date.
  2. The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (at http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/c15/craster_hall.htm), NavSource Online (at http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/171486.htm), and the Naval Historical Center Online Library of Selected Images (at http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-civil/civsh-c/crast-hl.htm) all report this date, although the Naval Historical Center Online Library of Selected Images entry also reports the date of acquisition as 2 May 1918 without any explanation for this alternative date.

References
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