SS Pennsylvanian
SS Pennsylvanian was a cargo ship built in 1913 for the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company. During World War I she was requisitioned by the United States Navy and commissioned as USS Pennsylvanian (ID-3511) in September 1918, and renamed two months later to USS Scranton. After her naval service, her original name of Pennsylvanian was restored.
SS Pennsylvanian, seen here as USS Scranton (ID-3511) in 1919 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | SS Pennsylvanian |
| Owner | American-Hawaiian Steamship Company |
| Port of registry | New York |
| Ordered | September 1911 |
| Builder | |
| Cost | $715,000 |
| Yard number | 127 |
| Launched | 29 March 1913 |
| Completed | June 1913 |
| Identification |
|
| Fate | Expropriated by U.S. Navy |
| History | |
| United States | |
| Name | USS Pennsylvanian (ID-3511) |
| Acquired | 13 September 1918 |
| Commissioned | 13 September 1918 |
| Renamed | USS Scranton (ID-3511), November 1918 |
| Namesake | Scranton, Pennsylvania |
| Decommissioned | 16 July 1919 |
| Fate | Returned to American-Hawaiian Steamship Co., 16 July 1919 |
| History | |
| Name | SS Pennsylvanian |
| Owner | American-Hawaiian Steamship Company |
| Port of registry | New York |
| Identification |
|
| Fate | Expropriated by U.S. Navy; sunk as part of Mulberry Harbor off Normandy, 16 July 1944 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Cargo ship |
| Tonnage | 6,547 GRT 10,175 LT DWT 4,068 NRT |
| Length | |
| Beam | 53 ft 6 in (16.31 m) |
| Draft | 29 ft 6 in (8.99 m) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 15 knots (28 km/h) |
| Capacity | 491,084 cubic feet (13,906.0 m3) |
| Notes | Sister ships: Minnesotan, Dakotan, Montanan, Panaman, Washingtonian, Iowan, Ohioan |
| General characteristics (as USS Scranton) | |
| Displacement | 6,655 long tons (6,762 t) |
| Troops | 1,840 |
| Complement | 94 |
| Armament | 7 × .50 cal (12.7 mm) machine guns |
Pennsylvanian 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. Pennsylvanian was one of the first two steamships to travel eastbound through the canal when it opened in August 1914. During World War I, as both SS Pennsylvanian and USS Scranton, the ship carried cargo and animals to France, and returned American troops after the Armistice in 1918.
After her naval service ended in 1919, she was returned to her original owners and resumed relatively uneventful cargo service over the next twenty years. Early in World War II, the ship was requisitioned by the War Shipping Administration, and shipped cargo on New York – Caribbean routes and transatlantic routes. In mid-July 1944, Pennsylvanian was scuttled as part of the breakwater for one of the Mulberry artificial harbors built to support the Normandy Invasion.