SS Iowan
SS Iowan was a cargo ship built in 1914 for the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company. During World War I she was taken over by the United States Navy and commissioned as USS Iowan (ID-3002). During World War II, the ship was transferred to the Soviet Union and renamed SS Tashkent (or Ташкент in Cyrillic).
USS Iowan (ID-3002) is seen here in 1919 returning American troops from France. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | SS Iowan |
| Owner | American-Hawaiian Steamship Company |
| Port of registry | New York |
| Ordered | May 1912 |
| Builder | |
| Cost | $732,000 |
| Yard number | 132 |
| Launched | 24 January 1914 |
| Completed | 16 May 1914 |
| Identification |
|
| Fate | Requisitioned by U.S. Navy |
| History | |
| United States | |
| Name | USS Iowan (ID-3002) |
| Acquired | 12 August 1918 |
| Commissioned | 12 August 1918 |
| Decommissioned | 18 September 1919 |
| Fate | Returned to American-Hawaiian |
| History | |
| Name |
|
| Namesake | 1943: Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan |
| Owner | |
| Operator |
|
| Port of registry | |
| Fate | Transferred to North Korea, 1966; scrapped 1969 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Cargo ship |
| Tonnage | 6,529 GRT 10,175 LT DWT |
| Length | |
| Beam | 53 ft 6 in (16.31 m) |
| Draft | 28 ft (8.5 m) |
| Depth of hold | 31 ft 6 in (9.60 m) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 14 knots (26 km/h) |
| Capacity | Cargo: 490,859 cubic feet (13,899.6 m3) |
| Crew | 18 officers, 40 crewmen |
| Notes | Sister ships: Dakotan, Montanan, Pennsylvanian, Minnesotan, Washingtonian, Panaman, Ohioan |
| General characteristics (as USS Iowan) | |
| Displacement | 14,375 t |
| Troops | 1,650 |
| Complement | 96 |
| Armament |
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Iowan was built by the Maryland Steel Company as one of eight sister ships for the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company. In October 1914, five months after she was delivered to American-Hawaiian, Iowan rammed and sank the United Fruit Company steamer Metapan near the entrance to New York Harbor. After repairs, Iowan resumed inter-coastal service via the Panama Canal. When the canal was temporarily closed by landslides in late 1915, Iowan sailed via the Straits of Magellan until the canal reopened in mid 1916. During World War I, USS Iowan carried cargo, animals, and a limited number of passengers to France, and returned nearly 10,000 American troops after the Armistice.
After her Navy service ended in 1919, she was returned to her original owners, who, at least once, chartered her to another shipping company. In May 1922, Iowan rammed and sank the Furness-Prince Line steamer Welsh Prince in the Columbia River near Astoria, Oregon, killing seven men in the process. In June 1941, Iowan ran aground on a reef near Point Conception, California, and suffered $500,000 in damages while buffeted by waves on the reef. She was freed from the reef after two weeks, towed to Los Angeles, and repaired.
In 1942, the ship was requisitioned by the War Shipping Administration, which transferred her to the Soviet Union under the terms of Lend-Lease in December 1942. She was assigned to the Far East Shipping Company under her new name of SS Tashkent, but sailed with the Soviet Pacific Fleet throughout the war. She delivered cargo and troops in support of the Soviet invasion of Japanese-held territories in August 1945. After the war, the ship remained a part of the Soviet merchant fleet until 1966. She was transferred to North Korea at that time to become a fish processing facility, and was scrapped in 1969.