Figure 1: S.S. Martha Washington in 1908 when she was part of the Austro-American Line, just prior to World War I. Courtesy of the Peabody Museum of Salem, Massachusetts. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 2: Postcard dated 13 October 1909 showing S.S. Martha Washington. Photograph courtesy of Tommy Trampp. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 3: 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 (SP-3019) from January 1918 to November 1919. Note the stacks of rigid life rafts on the stern and the single raft on the pier. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 4: USS Martha Washington (SP-3019) outbound off Cape Henry, Virginia, en route to Brest, France, in 1918. Her lifeboats are rigged for the war zone. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 5: USS Martha
Washington (SP-3019)
inbound to Hampton Roads, Virginia, from Brest, France, 1918. US Naval
History and Heritage Command Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 6:
USS Martha Washington (SP-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. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.
Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 7: Artwork or heavily retouched photograph
showing USS Martha Washington (SP-3019)
underway in 1919. This picture was reproduced as a panoramic image by Holladay,
Newport News, Virginia. Donation of Charles R. Haberlein Jr., 2008. US Naval
History and Heritage Command Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 8:
USS Martha Washington (SP-3019) underway in 1919 while bringing US
troops home from France. Photograph from the collection of Robert H. Helm,
donated by Mr. & Mrs. Robert Helm, 2008. US Naval History and Heritage
Command Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 9:
USS Martha Washington (SP-3019) off Constantinople, Turkey, circa September or
October 1919. The bow of a British battleship is visible at the extreme right. Photographed
by R.E. Wayne. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Click on
photograph for larger image.
Named after
the wife of the first president of the United States, the 12,700-ton S.S. Martha Washington was a passenger liner built
in 1908 for the Unione Austriaca di Navigazione (also known as the
Austro-American Line) by Russell & Company at Port Glasgow, Scotland. The
Unione Austriaca di Navigazione was based in Trieste, which at that time was
part of Austria-Hungary. The company was founded in Trieste in 1903 by Fratelli
Cosulich. Its ships carried passengers from Trieste to Italy and then on to New
York. Regular trips to South America and New Orleans, Louisiana, began in 1907
(although the New Orleans service was quickly discontinued). A deal was
eventually made with the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company for service from
Trieste to Canada, but this route proved to be uneconomical and was cancelled after only six voyages.
At the start
of World War I in 1914, Martha Washington
was interned at Hoboken, New Jersey. The United States was neutral at the start
of the conflict and the passenger liner was owned by Austria-Hungary, one of
the belligerents fighting in the war. So the ship was to be interned (or held)
in the neutral port until the end of the war, according to the maritime laws of
neutrality at that time. But when the United States entered the war, Martha Washington was at first seized by
the US Army on 6 April 1917, and then given to the US Navy in November.
Martha Washington underwent two months of
round-the-clock effort to make her seaworthy and convert her into a troop
transport. The ship was commissioned USS Martha
Washington (SP-3019) on 2 January 1918. She was approximately 460 feet long
and 56 feet wide and her top speed was 17 knots. Martha Washington had a crew of 949 officers and men and could
carry 3,380 troops, along with their equipment. For defensive purposes, the
ship was armed with four 5-inch guns and two 1-pounders.
On 10
February 1918, Martha Washington
sailed in a convoy with other transports on the first of eight wartime voyages
carrying troops to France. Departing either from New York or Newport News,
Virginia, and arriving at Brest, France, the ship carried a total of 24,005
troops to Europe. After the war ended in November 1918, Martha Washington completed eight additional voyages from 26
November 1918 to 11 November 1919. During these trips, the ship brought 19,687
troops and passengers back to the United States.
On her final
voyage (which began in August 1919), Martha
Washington was sent into the Mediterranean and Black Sea to carry a US
mission to Turkey and Russia. During this three-month voyage, she also carried
refugees from Batum, Russia, to Constantinople, Turkey. On her way back to the
United States, Martha Washington
stopped at Malta and Marseilles and Brest, France. She arrived in New York on
11 November 1919, the first anniversary of the armistice signing which ended
World War I.
