- USS Margaret (ID-2510)
USS "Margaret" (ID-2510) – shortly thereafter known as USS "Chatham" (ID-2510) -- was a cargo ship acquired by the
U.S. Navy duringWorld War I . She was used to carry cargo to Allied troops inEurope until the war’s end when she was returned to theU.S. Shipping Board for disposition.Leased in New York
"Margaret", a 3,372 gross ton (7,523 tons displacement) freighter, was built at
Sparrows Point, Maryland , in 1916. She was acquired on charter by the Navy from A. H. Bull Steamship Co.,New York, New York ,13 March 1918 . She was commissioned in the Navy at New York City, as USS "Margaret" (ID # 2510) on25 March 1918 with Lieutenant Commander T. J. Sammons,USNRF , in command."Margaret" was assigned to the
3d Naval District underNaval Overseas Transportation Service and was renamed USS "Chatham" on18 April 1918 , probably to avoid confusion with several other U.S. Navy vessels of the same name, most notably the convertedyacht "Margaret" (SP-527).World War I service
On the same date the freighter arrived in the
Gironde River inFrance at the end of her firsttransatlantic convoy voyage from New York carrying Army supplies for theAmerican Expeditionary Force . "Chatham" made four more such trips, delivering French steel billets and supplies for the Motor Transportation Corps toLe Havre in June for the Army of Occupation, general cargo to Rochefort in August and October, and more general cargo to Brest in December.Post-service demobilization
Upon returning to New York in late December 1918 she entered a shipyard for a complete overhaul and was soon designated for demobilization. USS "Chatham" was decommissioned on
10 February 1919 and transferred to theU.S. Shipping Board .Subsequent maritime career
"Chatham" was returned to her owners, the A.H. Bull Steamship Company of New York City. Reverting to the name "Margaret", the ship appears to have continued to serve her original owners until she was sunk, without survivors, by the German
submarine "U-571" on14 April 1942 offCape Hatteras .See also
*
U.S. Navy
*World War I Reference
*
* [http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/c7/chatham-ii.htm Chatham]
* [http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-c/id2510.htm USS Chatham (ID # 2510), 1918-1919. Initially commissioned as USS Margaret. Originally, and later, S.S. Margaret (American Freighter, 1916).]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.