SS Montanan
SS Montanan was a cargo ship built in 1912 for the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company. During World War I service for the United States Army Transport Service, she was known as USAT Montanan. Montanan was built by the Maryland Steel Company as one of eight sister ships for the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company, and was employed in inter-coastal service via the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and the Panama Canal after it opened.
USAT Montanan at Saint-Nazaire, July 1917 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| United States | |
| Name | SS Montanan |
| Owner | American-Hawaiian Steamship Company |
| Port of registry | Boston |
| Ordered | September 1911 |
| Builder | |
| Cost | $692,000 |
| Yard number | 126 |
| Launched | 25 January 1913 |
| Sponsored by | Miss Lubelle Shepard |
| Completed | April 1913 |
| Identification | U.S. official number: 211088 |
| Fate | Expropriated by U.S. Army, 1 June 1917 |
| United States | |
| Name | USAT Montanan |
| Acquired | 1 June 1917 |
| Fate | Sunk by U-90, 18 August 1918 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Cargo ship |
| Tonnage | 6,649 GRT 9,406 LT DWT |
| Length | |
| Beam | 53 ft 7 in (16.33 m) |
| Draft | 28 ft 0 in (8.53 m) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 14.85 knots (27.50 km/h) |
| Capacity | Cargo: 438,154 cubic feet (12,407.1 m3) |
| Crew | 18 officers, 40 crewmen |
| Notes | Sister ships: Minnesotan, Dakotan, Pennsylvanian, Panaman, Washingtonian, Iowan, Ohioan |
| General characteristics (as USAT Montanan) | |
| Complement | 86 |
In World War I, USAT Montanan carried cargo and animals to France, and was in the first American convoy to sail to France after the United States entered the war in April 1917. USAT Montanan was torpedoed and sunk by U-90 500 nmi (900 km) west of Le Verdon-sur-Mer, France, while it took part in another eastbound convoy in August 1918, Of the 86 men aboard the ship, 81 were rescued by a convoy escort; five men died in the attack.