USS President Lincoln (1907)

USS President Lincoln was a troop transport in the United States Navy during World War I.

History
United States
Name: USS President Lincoln
Namesake: Abraham Lincoln
Builder: Harland and Wolff
Yard number: 353
Launched: 1907
Completed: 14 May 1907
Acquired: confiscated, 1917
Commissioned: 25 July 1917
Fate: Sunk 31 May 1918
General characteristics
Type: Troop transport
Displacement: 32,500 long tons (33,000 t)
Length: 619 ft (189 m)
Beam: 68 ft 2 in (20.78 m)
Draft: 34 ft (10 m)
Propulsion: Steam engine(s)
Speed: 14.5 kn (16.7 mph; 26.9 km/h)
Complement: 430 officers and enlisted
Armament: 4 × 6 in (150 mm) guns

Formerly the German steamer President Lincoln of the Hamburg-American Line, it was built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast in 1907. Seized in New York harbor in 1917, it was turned over to the Shipping Board and transferred to the Navy for operation as a troop transport.

Having been damaged severely by her German crew, the President Lincoln underwent extensive repairs and conversion at Robin's Dry Dock and Repair Company in Brooklyn, New York before being re-commissioned as a Navy troop transport at Brooklyn on 25 July 1917. Commander Yates Stirling, Jr. was then placed in command.

Service history

The President Lincoln made five voyages from New York to France. Transporting approximately 23,000 American troops to Brest, France and St. Nazaire, four cycles were completed without incident: October-November 1917, December 1917-January 1918, February-March, and March-May. She sailed from New York on her fifth and final trip to Europe on 10 May 1918. Arriving at Brest on the 23rd, she disembarked troops, and — escorted by destroyers — got underway on the 29th with troopships Rijndam, Susquehanna and Antigone for the return voyage to the U.S. At sundown on 30 May 1918, having passed through the so-called "danger zone" of submarine activity, the destroyers left the convoy to proceed alone. At about 09:00 on 31 May 1918, the President Lincoln was struck by three torpedoes from the German submarine U-90, and sank about 20 minutes later. Of the 715 people aboard, 26 men were lost with the ship, and a Lieutenant Edouard Izac was taken aboard U–90 as prisoner. Survivors were rescued from lifeboats late that night by destroyers Warrington and Smith. They were taken to France, arriving at Brest on 2 June.

References

Further reading
  • Foote, P.W. (July 1922). "Narrative of the "President Lincoln"". Proceedings of the United States Naval Institute. Vol. 48 no. 7. pp. 1073–1086.
Sinking of the USS President Lincoln

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