SS Washington

SS "Washington" was a 24,189-ton luxury liner of the United States Lines, named after the US capital city.

Construction

She was ordered by Transatlantic Steamship Company and laid down on 20 January 1931 in Shipway O at New York Shipbuilding in Camden, New Jersey. By the time she was launched on 20 August 1932, Transatlantic Steamship's assets had been acquired by International Mercantile Marine, and SS "Washington" went into service for the United States Lines following delivery on 2 May 1933.

At the time of their construction, "Washington" and her sister ship "Manhattan", also built by New York Shipbuilding, were the largest liners ever built in the United States, a status they held until the 1939 launch of SS "America". "Washington" and "Manhattan" were two of the few pure liners built by New York Shipbuilding, which had previously built a large number of combination passenger-cargo liners. Accommodations were 580 in Cabin class, 400 in Tourist, and 150 Third class. Both ships were to garner a reputation for a very high standard of service and luxury.

Commercial career

"Washington" joined her sister ship "Manhattan" on the New York-Hamburg route, a route she would continue to serve with only one short break until December 1939, when Roosevelt invoked the 1939 Neutrality Act against Germany. Both ships then moved to the New York-Naples-Genoa run until Italy declared war on Great Britain and France in June 1940. With the increasing danger from German submarines, "Washington" and "Manhattan" were shifted to the New York-San Francisco service, via the Panama Canal.

Military career

On 6 June, 1941, "Washington" was requisitioned and leased by the US Navy, and was subsequently commissioned as the troopship USS "Mount Vernon" on 16 June, 1941. The conversion was performed by the Philadelphia Navy Yard. In Navy service, "Mount Vernon" frequently sailed in company with the other United States Lines fast liners "Manhattan" (USS "Wakefield") and "America" (USS "West Point"), most notably on a secret assignment carrying British troops to Singapore--a convoy mission which began a month before Pearl Harbor.

In January 1946, "Mount Vernon" was decommissioned and returned to the U.S. Maritime Commission, regaining the name "Washington" at that time. Her luxurious appointments had been carefully removed and stored, and she returned to commercial service in February 1948. Only one deck was restored to its pre-war standards, however, providing accommodations for 1106 passengers in a single class. United States Lines returned her to the U.S. government in October 1951, and the final phase of her career found her transporting soldiers and their families between New York and Bremerhaven. Laid up in reserve in the Hudson River in 1953, she was ultimately scrapped at Kearny, New Jersey in 1965.

See also

* SS Manhattan

* USS Mount Vernon (AP-22)

References

* Gibbs, C.R. Vernon (1957). "Passenger Liners of the Western Ocean" (2nd ed). London: Staples Press Limited. LCCN 57001880
* New York Shipbuilding Corporation (1948). "50 Years: New York Shipbuilding Corporation". Camden:house publication
* Newell, Gordon (1963). "Ocean Liners of the 20th Century" (1st ed.). Seattle: Superior Publishing Company. LCCN 63-18494