SS Montanan

USAT Montanan at Saint-Nazaire, July 1917
USAT Montanan at Saint-Nazaire, July 1917
History
United States
NameSS Montanan
OwnerAmerican-Hawaiian Steamship Company
Port of registryBoston
OrderedSeptember 1911[1]
Builder
Cost$692,000[2]
Yard number126[3]
Launched25 January 1913[4]
Sponsored byMiss Lubelle Shepard[4]
CompletedApril 1913[3]
IdentificationU.S. official number: 211088[5]
FateExpropriated by U.S. Army, 1 June 1917
United States
NameUSAT Montanan
Acquired1 June 1917[6]
FateSunk by U-90, 18 August 1918
General characteristics
TypeCargo ship
Tonnage6,649 GRT[2] 9,406 LT DWT[2]
Length
Beam53 ft 7 in (16.33 m)[7]
Draft28 ft 0 in (8.53 m)[7]
Propulsion
Speed14.85 knots (27.50 km/h)[7]
CapacityCargo: 438,154 cubic feet (12,407.1 m3)[2]
Crew18 officers, 40 crewmen
NotesSister ships: Minnesotan, Dakotan, Pennsylvanian, Panaman, Washingtonian, Iowan, Ohioan[3]
General characteristics (as USAT Montanan)
Complement86[9]

SS Montanan was a cargo ship built in 1912 for the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company. During World War I service for the United States Army Transport Service, she was known as USAT Montanan. Montanan was built by the Maryland Steel Company as one of eight sister ships for the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company, and was employed in inter-coastal service via the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and the Panama Canal after it opened.

In World War I, USAT Montanan carried cargo and animals to France, and was in the first American convoy to sail to France after the United States entered the war in April 1917. USAT Montanan was torpedoed and sunk by U-90 500 nmi (900 km) west of Le Verdon-sur-Mer, France, while it took part in another eastbound convoy in August 1918, Of the 86 men aboard the ship, 81 were rescued by a convoy escort; five men died in the attack.

  1. ^ Cochran and Ginger, p. 358.
  2. ^ a b c d Cochran and Ginger, p. 365.
  3. ^ a b c Colton, "Bethlehem Steel Company".
  4. ^ a b "Hawaiian ship launched". The Christian Science Monitor. 27 January 1913. p. 13.
  5. ^ a b c "Montanan". Miramar Ship Index. R.B.Haworth. Retrieved 18 August 2008.
  6. ^ Crowell and Wilson, p. 315.
  7. ^ a b c d Naval History & Heritage Command. "Montanan". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
  8. ^ a b Cochran and Ginger, p. 357.
  9. ^ "Montanan torpedoed; five men are missing". The Atlanta Constitution. 22 August 1918. p. 7.