USS Sierra (ID-1634) in port, ca. 1919.
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History | |
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United States | |
Name | USS Sierra |
Namesake | Sierra Nevada mountain range (previous name retained) |
Builder | William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
Launched | 29 May 1900[1] |
Completed | 1900 |
Acquired | 27 May 1918 |
Commissioned | 1 July 1918 |
Decommissioned | 1 October 1919 |
Stricken | 1 October 1919 |
Fate | Returned to owners 1 October 1919 |
Notes | Operated as commercial passenger ship SS Sierra 1900-1918 and from 1919; later renamed SS Gdansk |
General characteristics | |
Type | Troop transport |
Tonnage | 5,989 Gross register tons[2] |
Displacement | 9,680 tons (normal) |
Length | 416 ft 0 in (126.80 m) |
Beam | 50 ft 2 in (15.29 m) |
Draft | 24 ft 0 in (7.32 m) (mean) |
Depth | 25 ft 11 in (7.90 m) |
Propulsion | Steam |
Speed | 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) |
Complement | 284 |
Armament |
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The first USS Sierra (ID-1634) was a troop transport of the United States Navy that served during World War I and its immediate aftermath.
SS Sierra was constructed as a commercial passenger ship in 1900 by William Cramp & Sons in Philadelphia for the San Francisco to Australia service via Hawaii of the Oceanic Steamship Company.[3] The ship was the first of a series of three to be built for the line with the others being Sonoma and Ventura.[4]
The U.S. Navy acquired her from the John D. Spreckel Brothers Company in San Francisco, California, on 27 May 1918 for use as a troop transport during World War I and assigned her the identification number 1634. After conversion work was complete, she was commissioned as USS Sierra (ID-1634) on 1 July 1918.
Sierra was decommissioned on 1 October 1919. On the same day, her name was stricken from the Navy list and she was returned to her owners.
As SS Sierra, the ship returned to commercial passenger service. She later was renamed SS Gdansk.[2]