![]() Eastern Chief in pattern camouflage, possibly in 1918
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History | |
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Name |
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Owner | US Shipping Board |
Operator | 1918–19: US Navy |
Port of registry | Seattle |
Builder | Uraga Dock Company, Uraga |
Completed | December 1917 |
Acquired | for US Navy, 25 Sep 1918 |
Commissioned | into US Navy, 27 Sep 1918 |
Decommissioned | from US Navy, 29 May 1919 |
Identification |
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Fate | scrapped 1935 |
General characteristics | |
Type | cargo ship |
Tonnage | 4,660 GRT, 3,578 NRT |
Displacement | 9,606 tons |
Length | 360.0 ft (109.7 m) |
Beam | 51.0 ft (15.5 m) |
Draft | 23 ft 2 in (7.1 m) |
Depth | 28.4 ft (8.7 m) |
Decks | 2 |
Installed power | 378 NHP, 2,400 ihp |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 12 knots (22 km/h) |
Complement | in US Navy, 70 |
USS Eastern Chief (ID-3390) was cargo steamship that was built in Japan in 1917 as Yoshida Maru No. 3. The United States Shipping Board (USSB) bought her and renamed her Eastern Chief. From September 1918 to May 1919 she spent eight months in the United States Navy, in which she made two transatlantic round trips between Virginia and France. She was scrapped in 1935.
In 1917 the Uraga Dock Company in Uraga, Kanagawa built a pair of sister ships. Kirishima Maru No. 6 was completed in October, followed by Yoshida Maru No. 3 in December.[1]
Yoshida Maru No. 3's registered length was 360.0 ft (109.7 m), her beam was 51.0 ft (15.5 m), her depth was 28.4 ft (8.7 m) and her draft was 23 ft 2 in (7.1 m). Her tonnages were 4,660 GRT, 3,578 NRT,[1] and 9,606 tons displacement.[2]
She had a single screw, driven by a three-cylinder triple-expansion engine. It was rated at 378 NHP[1] or 2,400 ihp, and gave her a speed of 12 knots (22 km/h).[2]
The USSB bought Kirishima Maru No. 6 and Yoshida Maru No. 3, renamed them Eastern Cross and Eastern Chief respectively, and registered them in Seattle.[1] Eastern Chief's US official number was 216482 and her code letters were LKWN.[1]
The USSB ordered three more ships from Uraga to the same design. Eastern Breeze was completed in October 1919, followed by Eastern Gale in November 1919, and Eastern Tempest in April 1920.[3] Suez Maru, completed in August 1919, was also built to the same design.[4] She remained in Japanese service, became a Second World War hell ship, and was sunk with great loss of life in 1943.[5]
Easern Chief remained in USSB ownership. The Board neither sold her, nor found work for her via a ship management company. By 1934 her wireless telegraph call sign was KJIM, and this had superseded her code letters.[6] She was scrapped in 1935.[7]