USN Ships--USS Martha Washington (ID # 3019)

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UNITED STATES NAVY
TEMPORARY AUXILIARY SHIPS
WORLD WAR I

Photo # NH 2750: USS Martha Washington en route to France, 1918

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Martha Washington (ID # 3019), 1918-1919
Originally S.S. Martha Washington (Austrian Passenger Liner, 1908)

USS Martha Washington, a 12,700-ton troop transport, was originally the Austrian passenger steamer Martha Washington. Launched at Port Glasgow, Scotland in 1908, she was interned at Hoboken, New Jersey, after World War I began in August 1914. When the United States entered the conflict in April 1917, she was taken over by the Army Quartermaster Corps. The Navy acquired the ship in November 1917 and placed her in commission in January 1918. Martha Washington made her first transport voyage to France in February and during the remainder of the First World War crossed the Atlantic seven more times, bringing more than 24,000 personnel to Europe.

With the Armistice in November, Martha Washington reversed the pattern, making seven trips over the next year to return nearly 20,000 passengers to America. In August 1919, she was sent into the Mediterranean and Black Seas to carry a U.S. mission to Turkey and Russia. During this three-month voyage, she also carried refugees from Batum, Russia, to Constantinople, Turkey. Martha Washington decommissioned in November 1919, shortly after her return to the U.S. from Turkey, and was sold back to her Austrian former owners in November 1922.

This page features all available views concerning USS Martha Washington (ID # 3019) and the Austrian passenger liner Martha Washington of 1908.


Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 105607

S.S. Martha Washington (Former Austrian passenger ship, 1908)

Possibly photographed when inspected by the Navy in November 1917 a few days before the Navy took her over from the Army. This ship was in commission as USS Martha Washington (ID # 3019) from January 1918 to November 1919.
Note the stacks of rigid liferafts on the stern and aft of the stacks and the single raft on the pier.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 89KB; 740 x 580 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 2750

USS Martha Washington (ID # 3019)

Outbound off Cape Henry, Virginia, en route to Brest, France, in 1918. Her lifeboats are rigged for the war zone.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 73KB; 740 x 540 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 2749

USS Martha Washington (ID # 3019)

Inbound to Hampton Roads, Virginia, from Brest, France, 1918.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 61KB; 740 x 470 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 96668

USS Martha Washington (ID # 3019)

Photographed by O.W. Waterman, Hampton, Virginia, in 1919. She is crowded with troops returning to the United States from Europe.
Note Curtiss HS-2L flying by at the extreme right.

Courtesy of Thomas Sudbrink, 1990.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 79KB; 740 x 555 pixels

 
Photo #: None

USS Martha Washington (ID # 3019)

Photographed by Holladay, Newport News, Virginia, circa early 1919. She is no longer in pattern camouflage but retains her armament.

Source: Shipscribe.

 
Photo #: NH 105812

USS Martha Washington (ID # 3019)

Artwork or heavily-retouched photograph, showing the ship underway in 1919.
Reproduced as a panoramic image by Holladay, Newport News, Virginia.

Donation of Charles R. Haberlein Jr., 2008.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 89KB; 1200 x 485 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 103399

USS Martha Washington (ID # 3019)

At Newport News, Virginia, 19 May 1919, probably upon arrival from Europe. Her decks are crowded with troops.
Panoramic photograph by Clements, 619 F. Street NW, Washington, D.C.

Donation of Mark Wertheimer, 2005.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 80KB; 1200 x 265 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 106336

USS Martha Washington (ID # 3019)

Underway in 1919, while employed bringing U.S. troops home from France.

Photograph from the collection of Robert H. Helm, donated by Mr. & Mrs. Robert Helm, 2008.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 41KB; 740 x 465 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 46410

USS Martha Washington (ID # 3019)

Off Constantinople, Turkey, circa September-October 1919.
The bow of a British battleship is visible at the extreme right.
Photographed by R.E. Wayne.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 64KB; 740 x 565 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 82951

"The Original U.S. Troop Transports"

Chart compiled 16 August 1919, showing the number of trans-Atlantic "turn arounds" and their average duration for thirty seven U.S. Navy troop transports employed during and immediately after World War I.

Collection of the USS Pocahontas Reunion Association, 1974.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 157KB; 690 x 655 pixels

Click here to rotate chart 90 degrees clockwise

 


NOTES:

  • To the best of our knowledge, the pictures referenced here are all in the Public Domain, and can therefore be freely downloaded and used for any purpose.

  • Some images linked from this page bear obsolete credit lines citing the organization name: "Naval Historical Center". Effective 1 December 2008 the name should be cited as: "Naval History and Heritage Command".


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    Page made 21 March 2001