USS West Hobomac (ID-3335)
Encyclopedia
USS West Hobomac (ID-3335) was a steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
–hulled
Hull (watercraft)
A hull is the watertight body of a ship or boat. Above the hull is the superstructure and/or deckhouse, where present. The line where the hull meets the water surface is called the waterline.The structure of the hull varies depending on the vessel type...
cargo ship
Cargo ship
A cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship or vessel that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year; they handle the bulk of international trade...
which saw service with the U.S. Navy as an auxiliary
Auxiliary ship
An auxiliary ship is a naval ship which is designed to operate in any number of roles supporting combatant ships and other naval operations. Auxiliaries are not primary combatants, although they may have some limited combat capacity, usually of a self defensive nature.Auxiliaries are extremely...
during World War I, and which later operated under the British flag during World War II before being lost to enemy action.
Commissioned into the Navy just three months before the end of World War I, West Hobomac completed three voyages during the war, and made several more on the Navy's behalf in the immediate postwar period prior to decommission in 1919. Between the wars, the ship operated as the merchant vessel SS West Hobomac.
With the outbreak of World War II, West Hobomac was acquired by French interests and renamed SS Ile de Batz. After the Fall of France in June 1940, Ile de Batz was seized by the British and placed into service under the British flag. Ile de Batz was torpedoed and sunk by U-68 off the West African coast on 17 March 1942.
Construction and design
West Hobomac was built in Seattle, WashingtonSeattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
in 1918 at the No. 1 Plant of the Skinner & Eddy Corporation—the 13th in a series of 24 steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
–hulled
Hull (watercraft)
A hull is the watertight body of a ship or boat. Above the hull is the superstructure and/or deckhouse, where present. The line where the hull meets the water surface is called the waterline.The structure of the hull varies depending on the vessel type...
Design 1013 cargo ship
Cargo ship
A cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship or vessel that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year; they handle the bulk of international trade...
s built by Skinner & Eddy for the United States Shipping Board
United States Shipping Board
The United States Shipping Board was established as an emergency agency by the Shipping Act , 7 September 1916. It was formally organized 30 January 1917. It was sometimes referred to as the War Shipping Board.http://www.gwpda.org/wwi-www/Hurley/bridgeTC.htm | The Bridge To France by Edward N....
's emergency wartime shipbuilding program. The ship was laid down on 29 May 1918 and launched just 49 working days (59 calendar days) later on July 27—a new record for the company, eclipsing its previous best of 51 working days. Completed on 17 August after only 66 working (80 calendar) days under construction, West Hobomac would end the war as the fifth fastest-built ship in the world.
West Hobomac had a designed deadweight tonnage
Deadweight tonnage
Deadweight tonnage is a measure of how much weight a ship is carrying or can safely carry. It is the sum of the weights of cargo, fuel, fresh water, ballast water, provisions, passengers, and crew...
of 8,800 and gross register tonnage
Gross Register Tonnage
Gross register tonnage a ship's total internal volume expressed in "register tons", one of which equals to a volume of . It is calculated from the total permanently enclosed capacity of the vessel. The ship's net register tonnage is obtained by reducing the volume of non-revenue-earning spaces i.e...
of 5,600. The ship had an overall length of 423 feet 9 inches, a beam of 54 feet and a draft of about 24 feet. The vessel was powered by a Curtis geared turbine
Steam turbine
A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884....
driving a single screw propeller, delivering a service speed of 11 knots.
U.S. Navy service, 1918-1919
West Hobomac was delivered to the U.S. Navy on 17 August 1918 and commissioned the same day for operation with the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS) as USS West Hobomac (ID-3335), with Lt. Comdr. Peter F. Johnson, USNRF, in command.After taking on a cargo of 7,928 tons of coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
, West Hobomac departed Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
on 26 August 1918, bound for Iquique, Chile. Arriving at her destination on 23 September, West Hobomac discharged her cargo and loaded 824 tons of nitrates bound for the United States. Returning north along the Pacific coast of South America, West Hobomac transited the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
and arrived at New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
on 8 November, three days before the end of World War I, where she unloaded her cargo. While still berthed at New York, West Hobomac received repairs to her engine and steering gear, underwent alterations to her crew's quarters, and refueled.
West Hobomac departed New York on 30 November, bound for France with a cargo of Army supplies, and arrived at Brest
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
nine days before Christmas. Discharging her cargo, the vessel loaded 226 tons of Army return cargo and additional ballast
Ballast tank
A ballast tank is a compartment within a boat, ship or other floating structure that holds water.-History:The basic concept behind the ballast tank can be seen in many forms of aquatic life, such as the blowfish or argonaut octopus, and the concept has been invented and reinvented many times by...
, and on 18 January departed once more for New York. Arriving at her destination 6 February, the ship remained there for nearly two weeks, unloading and taking on board 6,392 tons of cargo for transport to Holland.
Reaching Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
on 11 March, West Hobomac unloaded and departed that port, in ballast, on the 23rd, bound for the United States. At New York, she loaded 5,252 tons of foodstuffs and relief supplies and sailed on 23 April for Belgium, arriving at Antwerp on 12 May where she discharged her cargo.
Departing for the United States on 16 May, West Hobomac arrived at Newport News, Virginia
Newport News, Virginia
Newport News is an independent city located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia. It is at the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula, on the north shore of the James River extending southeast from Skiffe's Creek along many miles of waterfront to the river's mouth at Newport News...
on 5 June. On 10 June, the ship was decommissioned, struck from the Navy List
Naval Vessel Register
The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...
, and returned to control of the United States Shipping Board
United States Shipping Board
The United States Shipping Board was established as an emergency agency by the Shipping Act , 7 September 1916. It was formally organized 30 January 1917. It was sometimes referred to as the War Shipping Board.http://www.gwpda.org/wwi-www/Hurley/bridgeTC.htm | The Bridge To France by Edward N....
.
Interwar years
In the interwar period, the USSB placed West Hobomac into commercial service. Little information is available concerning the ship's movements in this period, but it is known that the vessel was active in trade between the United States and Europe as well as ports in the Mediterranean. In 1933, the ship was acquired by the Lykes BrothersLykes Brothers
Lykes Brothers, Inc., is a Florida corporation founded by the Lykes Family of Tampa, Florida, in 1910. This family would become the largest landowner in Florida, the 9th largest landowner in the United States and the wealthiest in Tampa Bay.In the 1870s Dr...
-Ripley Steamship Company consortium (later known as the Lykes Brothers Steamship Company
Lykes Brothers Steamship Company
Lykes Bros. Steamship Co., also called Lykes Lines, was a cargo shipping company acting from the beginning of the 20th century to 2005 having its main business in the trade to and from the United States.-History:In 1900 the sons of Dr...
.
World War II
On 28 March 1940, West Hobomac was acquired at Newport News, VirginiaNewport News, Virginia
Newport News is an independent city located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia. It is at the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula, on the north shore of the James River extending southeast from Skiffe's Creek along many miles of waterfront to the river's mouth at Newport News...
by a French firm, Companie Generale Transatlantique, which renamed the ship Ile de Batz. Following the Fall of France in June 1940, Ile de Batz was seized by the British at Falmouth
Falmouth, Cornwall
Falmouth is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a total resident population of 21,635.Falmouth is the terminus of the A39, which begins some 200 miles away in Bath, Somerset....
and transferred by the Minister of War Transport to the Bank Line for operation under the British flag.
By early 1942 Ile de Batz—now mostly manned by a Free French crew—was in operation between the United Kingdom and various ports in Africa and the Far East. Leaving Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
, South Africa with a 6,605-ton cargo of general goods and rice, Ile de Batz was intercepted 28 miles southwest of Cape Palmas
Cape Palmas
Cape Palmas is a headland on the extreme southeast end of the coast of Liberia, West Africa, at the extreme southwest corner of the northern half of the continent. The Cape itself consists of a small, rocky peninsula connected to the mainland by a sandy isthmus. Immediately to the west of the...
on 17 March by U-68. After disabling the vessel with a torpedo
Torpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...
fired at 6:35 am, U-68 surfaced and sank the stricken vessel at around 7:51 with 33 explosive rounds from her 10.5 cm gun. Four crew members of Ile de Batz were killed in the attack but the rest, including the ship's captain, 34 crew and 4 gunners made their way back to Cape Palmas, from whence they were taken to Freetown by HMCS Weyburn (K-173).