Design 1099 Ship Explained

The Emergency Fleet Corporation Design 1099 was a steel-hulled cargo ship design approved for mass production by the United States Shipping Boards Emergency Fleet Corporation in World War I. A total of 91 of these ships were produced. Of these, 88 were purchased by the Shipping Board. The remaining three were cancelled by the Shipping Board, but completed for private companies.

The design 1099 ships became part of a global glut of shipping capacity in the 1920s, after the war's demands subsided. Many of them were idled, two dozen were scrapped, and most of the remainder were sold to cargo fleets around the world by the Shipping Board. By the beginning of World War II they were very widespread and carried critical materials for all the major combatants. Twenty-five of the ships were sunk by enemy action during the war. The last of the class was likely wrecked in 1958.

Construction

Design 1099 ships were referred to as "Lakers" since all were produced in shipyards on the Great Lakes, and most were named after lakes. Production was spread over eight shipyards:[1]

All 91 ships were completed in 1919 and 1920. Costs varied slightly among design 1099 ships. For example, Bartholomew cost $781,925.46, while Detroit Wayne cost 777,751.41.[2]

Characteristics

Design 1099 ships were built of welded steel plates. They were 251feet long between perpendiculars, with a beam of 43inchesft6inchesin (ftin), and a depth of hold of 28inchesft2inchesin (ftin). Their fully loaded draft was just over 24feet. Deadweight tonnage, the weight of cargo which could be carried, varied among ships between 4,000 and 4,155 tons. Gross register tonnage varied between 2,542 and 2,810, while net register tonnage varied between 1,512 and 1,704.[3]

All design 1099 ships had a single propeller which was driven by a single triple-expansion steam engine creating 1425ihp. Two slightly different engine configurations were built. One had high, medium, and low-pressure cylinders with diameters of 22, 36, and 59 inches, and the other 21, 35, and 59 inches. Both types had a stroke of 42 inches. Steam was provided by two oil-fired boilers, except on Lake Farlin which burned coal. The ships were capable of reaching . Their fuel tanks could hold between 664 and 708 tons of oil, giving them a steaming range of about .

There were two cargo holds, each of which had two hatches. Each hold was serviced with four cargo booms, each of which had its own winch. The heaviest load that could be winched aboard was 4 tons. Depending on the type of cargo and the ship, design 1099 freighters had between 166806and of effective cargo space.

The design 1099 ships that were pressed into service by various governments during World War II were armed variously. USAT City of Houston, launched as Lake Strymon, was armed with a 3-inch gun on the stern and four 20 mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns, two on the stern and two on top of the pilothouse.[4]

Class history

Completed in 1919 and 1920, the design 1099 class arrived too late to make a difference in World War I. Instead of solving the problem of ship scarcity during the war, it became part of a ship surplus after the war. In 1919 the Shipping Board adopted a policy of selling its steel ships to American companies to strengthen the private sector of the industry.[5] Congress passed the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, which advocated a strong merchant marine on both national defense and international commerce grounds. The law authorized the Shipping Board to operate, charter, and sell ships to support a strong American merchant marine, and to dispose of excess ships which it deemed unnecessary for a strong merchant marine. Sales of ships to foreigners were allowed, but only if the Shipping Board was unable to sell them to Americans.[6]

Shipping Board design 1099 ships were operated by American companies briefly after the end of World War I. They sailed all over the world, Lake Fansdale to Le Havre,[7] and Lake Faulk to Hong Kong,[8] for example. Then, in the spring of 1920, ocean shipping rates collapsed, in part because of the overproduction of shipping during the war. Many design 1099 ships were idled because they were small and slow compared to much of the merchant marine fleet. By 1923 the shipping board declared that its two paramount objectives were to create a strong privately-owned merchant marine, and to dispose of as many ships in its own fleet as possible consistent with that end.[9] The Shipping Board began selling design 1099 ships to American companies in 1922. By 1926, it found qualified American buyers for 48. President Coolidge addressed the Shipping Board fleet in his 1927 state of the union speech. By that time, he and many others judged "Public operation [of the merchant marine] not a success," because it was a constant drain on the U.S. treasury, and often protected private interests, rather than the public good. Coolidge's view was that the ships should be sold as quickly as possible.[10] As the ships lost value as they aged and as political pressure grew, the Shipping Board began selling design 1099 ships not just to American merchant marine firms, but for scrap metal and to foreign buyers. An additional 24 ships were sold in this manner. The Shipping Board sold 72 of its 88 design 1099 ships in the decade after it began the process.

Some design 1099 ships were transferred to other government entities, rather than being sold to private interests. became California State, the training ship for the California Maritime Academy.[11] Lake Fairfax, Detroit Wayne, Lake Fenn, and Lake Faxon were transferred to the War Department. In 1932, Lake Fairfax[12] was converted into a suction dredge using parts from Lake Faxon, and Detroit Wayne[13] became a suction dredge using parts from Lake Fenn. The two dredges went to work for the US Army Corps of Engineers on the Mississippi River, while the two parts ships were scrapped.[14] [15]

World War II

The entire class of design 1099 ships missed World War I, but two-thirds of the ships were still at sea in 1940 as World War II grew in scope. While the Shipping Board had sold most design 1099 ships to American firms, these had since been sold on to a wide range of operators around the world. In 1940, the Soviet Union had the largest foreign fleet of design 1099 with eight ships,[17] but the ships also sailed under the flags of Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Norway, and Panama. As a result, design 1099 ships both supported the war aims of, and were sunk by all the major combatants.

Eight design 1099 ships were chartered or requisitioned to become US Army transport ships, and another served a similar function as a British Ministry of War transport ship. Several were assigned to the US Army Small Ships Section, an improvised fleet of civilian ships based in Australia which supported the advance of General Douglas MacArthur in the southwest Pacific.[18] They frequently carried cargoes to the front lines of the war. For example, on one trip to Biak, USAT City of Fort Worth carried frozen food, 155 mm shells, jeeps, 105 mm guns, and fuses for every shell aboard.[19]

Design 1099 ships as military auxiliaries in World War II[20] !Original design 1099 name!Military auxiliary name
FargoUSAT Norlago
La CrosseUSAT City of Fort Worth
Lake FillionUSAT City of Dallas
Lake FlatoniaUSAT Vannes
Lake FlatteryUSAT City of Houston
Lake FlorisUSAT Merrimack
Lake GiddingsUSAT Caribqueen
Lake GlascoUSAT Roanoke
Lake InglenookMoWT Empire Tern
Whether as a military auxiliary or a commercial freighter, World War II was dangerous for slow design 1099 ships. Of the 59 afloat in 1940, 25 were sunk by enemy action during the war.
Design 1099 ships sunk by enemy action in World War II!Ship!Design 1099 name!Flagged!Sunk by!Date!Location
Western Head[21] [22] BartholomewBahamasU-10728 May 1942south of Cuba
Bayou[23] [24] Lake FairfaxPanamaU-12928 February 1942north of Paramaribo
Herport[25] Lake FairportU.K.German mine14 March 1941SE of the Humber
Norlantic[26] [27] Lake FandangoU.S.U-6912 May 1942Near Bonaire
Chuckcha[28] Lake FandonUSSRUSS S-3431 May 1943near Paramushir
Caribstar[29] [30] Lake FanquierU.S.U-1754 October 1942north of Guyana
Florence D[31] [32] Lake FarmingdaleU.S.Japanese aircraft19 February 1942near Darwin, Australia
Nissho Maru[33] Lake FarrarJapanU.S. mine12 May 1945Shimonoseki, Japan
Atlantic Gulf[34] Lake FaulkPanamaI-106 June 1942Mozambique Channel
ZyrianinLake FlavoniaUSSRGerman aircraft1 April 1942off Feodosia, Russia
William J. Salman[35] [36] Lake FeldenU.S.U-12518 May 1942south of Cuba
Shinsei Maru No. 17Lake FieldingJapanU.S. aircraft12 January 1945near Saigon
Fenicia[37] Lake FifeItalyHMS Unique10 March 1941north of Tripoli
Leslie[38] [39] Lake FlagstaffU.S.U-12313 April 1942off Cape Canaveral, Florida
Frances Salman[40] Lake FlambeauU.S.U-55218 January 1942St. Johns, Newfoundland
Caribsea[41] Lake FlatteryU.S.U-158 11 March 1942off Cape Lookout, N.C.
Tillie Lykes[42] [43] Lake FlorianU.S.U-15428 June 1942south of Dominican Republic
USAT Merrimack[44] [45] Lake FlorisU.S.U-10710 June 1942near Cozumel, Mexico.
Velma Lykes[46] [47] Lake FlournoyU.S.U-1585 June 1942in the Yucatan Channel
Ruth Lykes[48] [49] Lake GeraU.S.U-10316 May 1942off Cape Falso, Nicaragua
USAT Roanoke[50] [51] Lake GlascoU.S.U-1055 11 January 1945Irish Sea
Commercial Trader[52] [53] Lake TippahU.S.U-55816 September 1942east of Trinidad
HerlandLake TrebaU.K.German mine7 November 1940The Nore, England
Palma[54] Santa EulaliaGermanyHMS Torbay27 November 1943off Samos, Greece
Nidarnes[55] [56] Santa IsabelNorwayU-1594 June 1942in the Yucatan Channel

Postwar

Beyond the 25 ships that were sunk by enemy action, at least another 7 foundered or were wrecked in maritime accidents from 1940 to 1945. Fifteen design 1099 ships are known to have survived the war, but the fate of the ships in the hands of the Soviets, devastated Japan, and revolutionary China is unknown. The last design 1099 ship afloat may have been Avia, a Panamanian-flagged ship that was launched as Lake Falun. She was wrecked on Alacranes Reef, off the Yucatan coast, on 26 December 1958, just short of 38 years after her completion in Detroit.

Notes and References

  1. McKellar . N. L. . September 1963 . Steel Shipbuilding Under the U.S. Shipping Board, 1917-1921 . The Belgian Shiplover . 95–96 . 400a–499a.
  2. Book: United States Shipping Board and Emergency Fleet Corporation: Hearings Before the Select Committee to Inquire Into the Operations, Policies, and Affairs of the United States Shipping Board and the United States Emergency Fleet Corporation, House of Representatives, Sixty-eighth Congress, First Session, Pursuant to House Resolution 186 . 1925 . U.S. Government Printing Office . Washington, D.C. . 1996–1997 . en.
  3. Book: Register of Ships Owned by the United States Shipping Board . 1 August 1920 . U.S. Government Printing Office . Washington, D.C. . 57.
  4. Web site: 1944-01-13. AERIAL PORT SIDE VIEW OF THE AMERICAN CARGO STEAMER CITY OF HOUSTON. NOTE THE 3 INCH ... . 2024-05-30 . www.awm.gov.au . en.
  5. Day . Edmund E. . 1920 . The American Merchant Fleet: A War Achievement, a Peace Problem . The Quarterly Journal of Economics . 34 . 4 . 567–606 . 10.2307/1885158 . 1885158 . 0033-5533.
  6. Web site: 41 Stat. 988 (Pub. Law 66-261) .
  7. News: 25 February 1920 . Other Ports . Philadelphia Inquirer . 15.
  8. News: 19 August 1920 . Eastern and Foreign Ports . Tacoma Daily Ledger . 8.
  9. Book: Seventh Annual Report of The United States Shipping Board . U.S. Government Printing Office . 1923 . Washington, D.C. . 4.
  10. Web site: Message of the president of the United States to Congress, December 6, 1927 . United States Department of State; Office of the Historian . VIII-IX.
  11. Web site: Training Ship Golden Bear History - CSUM . 2024-06-05 . www.csum.edu . en.
  12. Web site: Lake Fairfax dredge . 2024-06-02 . usace.contentdm.oclc.org.
  13. Web site: US Dredge Detroit Wayne . 2024-06-02 . usace.contentdm.oclc.org.
  14. News: 7 July 1932 . Steamer To Become Dredge . Baltimore Sun . 19.
  15. News: 19 November 1932 . Some Fancy Marine Mathematics: Two Old Ships Equal One New Dredge . Evening Sun . 16.
  16. Book: Sale by the U.S. Shipping Board of 200 Vessels to the Ford Motor Company, Hearing ..., Pursuant to S.Res.135 ..., Feb 11, 1926 . 1926 . U.S. Government Printing Office . Washington, D.C. . 54 . en.
  17. Book: Budzbon . Przemyslaw . Warships of the Soviet Fleets, 1939–1945: Volume III Naval Auxiliaries . Radziemski . Jan . Twardowski . Marek . 2023-07-30 . Seaforth Publishing . 978-1-3990-2284-2 . 96 . en.
  18. Babcock . Kenneth J. . 2014 . MacArthur's small ships: Improvising Water Transport in the Southwest Pacific Area . Army History . 90 . 26–42 . 26298870 . 1546-5330.
  19. Web site: Aerial port quarter view of the United States Army Transport City of Fort Worth and belonged the ... . 2024-06-04 . www.awm.gov.au . en.
  20. Book: Grover, David Hubert . U.S. Army ships and watercraft of World War II . U.S. Naval Institute Press . 1987 . 9780870217661.
  21. Web site: Wiberg . Eric . 2014-04-26 . SS Western Head sunk by U-107/Gelhaus 26 May 1942 off Bahamas, Cuba . 2024-05-30 . Eric Wiberg . en-US.
  22. Book: Merchant Ships Sunk By Month . 185.
  23. Book: Merchant Ships Sunk By Month . 86.
  24. Web site: Bayou . Uboat.net.
  25. Book: Bertke . Donald A. . World War II Sea War, Volume 3: The Royal Navy is Bloodied in the Mediterranean . Smith . Gordon . Kindell . Don . 2012-05-15 . Lulu.com . 978-1-937470-01-2 . 94, 338 . en.
  26. Book: Merchant Ships Sunk By Month . 169.
  27. Web site: Norlantic . Uboat.net.
  28. Book: Campbell . Douglas E. . The Submarine Has No Friends: Friendly Fire Incidents Involving U.S. Submarines During World War II . Hinman . Charles R. . 2019-08-12 . Lulu.com . 978-0-359-76906-3 . en.
  29. Book: Merchant Ships Sunk By Month . 328.
  30. Web site: Caribstar . Uboat.net.
  31. Web site: View Shipwreck - SS Florence D . Australasian Underwater Cultural Heritage Database.
  32. Book: Masterson, Dr. James R. . U.S. Army Transportation in The Southwest Pacific Area, 1941-1947 . October 1949 . U.S. Army.
  33. Book: Committee, United States Joint Army-Navy Assessment . Japanese Naval and Merchant Shipping Losses During World War II by All Causes . 1947 . U.S. Government Printing Office . 978-0-598-73567-6 . Washington, D.C. . 88 . en.
  34. Web site: Imperial Submarines . 2024-05-30 . www.combinedfleet.com.
  35. Book: Merchant Ships Sunk By Month . 175.
  36. Web site: William J. Salman . Uboat.net.
  37. Web site: Rommelsriposte . 2020-04-19 . Axis merchants lost on the North Africa Route – 1941-1943 . 2024-05-30 . The Crusader Project . en.
  38. Book: Merchant Ships Sunk By Month . 139.
  39. Web site: Leslie . Uboat.net.
  40. Web site: Frances Salman . Uboat.net.
  41. Web site: Caribsea . Uboat.net.
  42. Book: Merchant Ships Lost By Month . 190.
  43. Web site: Tillie Lykes . Uboat.net.
  44. Book: US Merchant Ships Sank By Month . 200.
  45. Web site: Merrimack . Uboat.net.
  46. Book: Merchant Ships Sunk By Month . 195.
  47. Web site: Velma Lykes . Uboat.net.
  48. Book: Merchant Ships Sunk By Month . 173.
  49. Web site: Ruth Lykes . Uboat.net.
  50. Book: Merchant Ships Sunk By Month . 953.
  51. Web site: Roanoke . Uboat.net.
  52. Book: Merchant Ships Sunk By Month . 308.
  53. Web site: Commercial Trader . Uboat.net.
  54. Web site: HMS Torbay (N79) . Uboat.net.
  55. Book: Merchant Ships Sunk By Month . 194.
  56. Web site: Nidarnes . Uboat.net.