- USS Briarcliff (IX-3)
USS "Briarcliff" (IX-3), an
unclassified miscellaneous vessel , was the only ship of theUnited States Navy of that name. A wooden-hulled freighter, she was constructed in1919 atPortland, Maine , by theRussell Shipbuilding Company for theUnited States Shipping Board (USSB). Originally the "Briarcliff" was designed to increase the merchant fleet duringWorld War I , however before it could be completed, the war ended.The "Briarcliff" would have rotted in
Maine were it not for Lt. Commander Charles Reginald Jacobsen who was looking for a home for his reservists inNew York . On1 January 1922 she was acquired by the Navy from the USSB in an incomplete condition. Since it had neither engines nor boilers, she served as a floating armory and training vessel for the 33rd Fleet Militia at theTompkinsville section ofStaten Island , Pier 8 .That duty lasted until
25 November 1938 when she sank at her moorings as a result of a rotting hull. Later raised and inspected, she was declared unserviceable. "Briarcliff" was towed to deep water and sunk on29 December 1938 . Her name was struck from theNaval Vessel Register that same day.References
*DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/b9/briarcliff-i.htm
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