| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name |
|
| Namesake | Rancho Cotati |
| Owner |
|
| Operator |
|
| Port of registry |
|
| Ordered | 31 December 1917 |
| Builder | Moore Shipbuilding Co., Oakland |
| Yard number | 133 |
| Laid down | 12 October 1918 |
| Launched | 30 March 1919 |
| Sponsored by | Mrs. George T. Page |
| Commissioned | 26 August 1919 |
| Maiden voyage | 5 September 1919 |
| Identification |
|
| Fate | Sunk, 30 September 1942 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Design 1015 cargo ship |
| Tonnage | |
| Length | 402.5 ft (122.68 m) |
| Beam | 53.0 ft (16.15 m) |
| Depth | 32.0 ft (9.75 m) |
| Installed power | 2,800 shp |
| Propulsion | 2 x W. & A. Fletcher Co. steam turbines, double reduction geared to one screw |
| Speed | 11 knots (20 km/h) |
| Complement | 51 plus 7 DEMS gunners (Empire Avocet) |
Cotati was a steam cargo ship built in 1918–1919 by Moore Shipbuilding and Drydock Company of Oakland for the United States Shipping Board (USSB) as part of the wartime shipbuilding program of the Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) to restore the nation's Merchant Marine. The vessel was briefly used for the first two years of her career to transport frozen meat between North and South America and Europe. The ship was subsequently laid up at the end of 1921 and remained part of the Reserve Fleet through the end of 1940. In January 1941 she was sold together with two other vessels to the New Zealand Shipping Co. and subsequently in 1942 was transferred to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) and renamed Empire Avocet. The ship was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-125 on 30 September 1942 on one of her regular wartime trips.