USS Nantahala (1918)

"For other ships with this name see USS Nantahala."

The first USS "Nantahala", a single screw cargo ship, was launched under USSB contract by Western Pipe & Steel Co., San Francisco, Calif. 4 July 1918; taken over by the Navy 16 November 1918; and commissioned the same day, Lt. Comdr. Berthel Carlsen, USNRF, in command.

Assigned to NOTS, "Nantahala" loaded a cargo of flour and sailed 5 December for the East Coast where she arrived at New York 31 December. Assigned to duty as a food relief ship, she sailed for the Mediterranean 9 January 1919 and reached Fiume, in mid-February with her lifesaving cargo of flour and foodstuffs. She operated in the Adriatic and the Central Mediterranean during the next month, thence sailed via Gibraltar for the United States arriving at New York 10 April. "Nantahala" decommissioned at New York 17 April 1919 and was returned to the USSB on the 30th.