USS Aeolus (ID-3005)

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As Grosser Kürfurst, before The Great War
History
German Empire
Name	Grosser Kurfürst or Großer Kurfürst
Owner	North German Lloyd
Route	Bremen–New York City
Builder	F. Schichau Danzig, Germany (now Poland)
Launched	2 December 1899
Maiden voyage	1899, to Asiatic and Australian ports
In service	1899
Out of service	1914
Fate	interned by the United States, 1914; seized, 1917
History
United States
Name	USS Grosser Kurfurst (ID-3005)
Acquired	1917
Commissioned	4 August 1917
Renamed	USS Aeolus (ID-3005), 1 September 1917
Namesake	Aeolus, god of wind in Greek mythology
Decommissioned	22 September 1919
Stricken	22 September 1919
Fate	turned over to USSB
History
United States
Name	Aeolus
Owner	USSB
Operator	Munson Steamship Line
Route	New York–South America
Acquired	1919
In service	1919
Out of service	August 1922
Identification	Official number: 215453[1] Signal letters: LHQP
Fate	assigned to Los Angeles Steamship Co.
Notes	12,642 GRT US commercial registry[1]
History
United States
Name	City of Los Angeles
Owner	USSB
Operator	Los Angeles Steamship Co.
Route	Los Angeles–Honolulu
Acquired	August 1922
Maiden voyage	11 September 1922, Los Angeles to Honolulu, Hawaii
In service	1922
Out of service	1937
Identification	Official number: 215453[2] Signal letters: LHQP
Fate	Sold for scrapping in Japan, 1937
General characteristics as USS Aeolus
Tonnage	13,102 GRT[3]
Displacement	20,000 tons[3]
Length	580 ft 10.625 in (177.1 m) LOA[3] 562 ft (171.3 m) LBP
Beam	62 ft 3 in (19.0 m)[2] 62 ft (18.9 m) at waterline[3]
Draft	30 ft 0 in (9.1 m)
Installed power	5 double ended, 2 single ended boilers[3]
Propulsion	2 quadruple expansion steam engines[3]
Speed	15.5 knots (28.7 km/h; 17.8 mph)
Complement	513
Armament	4 × 5" guns 2 × 1-pdr. guns 2 × Colt machine guns 1 × Lewis machine gun 9 × depth mines

USS Aeolus (ID-3005), sometimes also spelled Æolus, was a United States Navy troopship in World War I. She was formerly the North German Lloyd liner Grosser Kurfürst, also spelled Großer Kurfürst, launched in 1899 that sailed regularly between Bremen and New York. At the outset of World War I the ship was interned by the United States and, when the US entered the war in 1917, was seized and converted to a troop transport.

Originally commissioned as USS Grosser Kurfürst, the ship was renamed Aeolus — after the god of wind in Greek mythology — while undergoing repairs and conversion at a US Navy yard. The ship carried almost 25,000 men to France during the hostilities, and returned over 27,000 healthy and wounded men after the Armistice.

After decommissioning by the US Navy, the ship was turned over to the United States Shipping Board and underwent a $3,000,000 refit in Baltimore, Maryland, and was transferred to the Munson Steamship Line for whom she carried passengers and freight to and from South American ports as Aeolus. In 1922 the ship was assigned to the Los Angeles Steamship Co. and renamed City of Los Angeles and sailed to and from Los Angeles and Honolulu. In 1937, the ship was sold for scrapping in Japan.