Figure 1: S.S. El Occidente photographed prior to her World War I-era naval service. This steamship served as USS El Occidente (No. 3307) from 1918 to 1919. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 2: US Navy cargo ship photographed circa early 1919. Location may be the Gironde River, France, off the American Bassens port facility. This ship is either USS El Oriente (No. 4504), USS El Occidente (No. 3307), or USS El Sol (No. 4505). What may be a name board on her bridge face indicates, from its length, that El Occidente is the most likely identification. Note that the ship still carries her bow gun, and is still in freighter configuration. El Oriente and El Sol were converted to transports in the spring of 1919, while El Occidente was decommissioned in March of that year. Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2008. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
The 6,008-ton cargo and passenger steamship SS El Occidente
(which means “The Western Region” in Spanish) was built in 1910 by the Newport
News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company at Newport News, Virginia. The Morgan
Line took possession of the ship on 2 December 1910 and she was the newest in a
set of four sister ships, the other three being El Sol, El Mundo,
and El Oriente. El Occidente was approximately 430 feet long and
53 feet wide, had a top speed of 16 knots, and could carry more than 4,000 tons
of cargo.
The Morgan Line, which was a subsidiary of the Southern Pacific
Railroad, used El Occidente to carry cargo and a small number of
passengers between New York City and New Orleans, Louisiana. In April 1913, The
New York Times reported that El Occidente, loaded only with cargo,
rammed a schooner in fog off the coast of New Jersey. El Occidente was
not seriously damaged in the incident, but the name and fate of the schooner
were never reported.
El
Occidente continued on the New York to New Orleans route until the United States
entered World War I in April 1917. At the time, the US Army needed ships to
transport men and cargo to France, so a select committee of shipping executives
examined a large number of American cargo ships to see if they could be used by
the Army. The committee determined that El Occidente and 13 other
American-flagged cargo ships had the speed and the fuel and cargo capacity that
made them ideal for immediate convoy duty between the United States and Europe.
After El Occidente completed her last voyage between New York and New
Orleans, she was acquired by the US Army on 30 May 1917.
But before these ships could begin transporting men and cargo to
Europe, they had to be refitted and armed for military use. Of the 14 ships,
four (including El Occidente) were designated to carry animals and
cargo, with the other ten designated to carry troops and cargo. The four ships
that were designated to carry animals had to have ramps and stalls built in
them (giving them the capacity to carry up to 800 horses or mules), and all of
the ships had to have gun platforms and guns installed. El Occidente was
armed with four 4-inch guns and carried a crew of merchant officers and men,
but also carried two US Navy officers, Navy gun crews, quartermasters,
signalmen, and wireless operators. The senior Navy officer on board would take
command of the ship if it came under enemy attack. The combination of Merchant
Marine and US Navy personnel added up to a crew of 112 officers and men.
El
Occidente made her first voyage to France on 17 June 1917, carrying the first
units of the American Expeditionary Force to Europe. Several days later, her
convoy arrived at Saint-Nazaire, France. From June 1917 to August 1918, El
Occidente made several round trips to France. During one of these trips on
2 February 1918, El Occidente spotted two German submarines. In a
20-minute running gun battle, Naval Armed Guardsmen on board El Occidente
exchanged fire with the two German U-boats, one on the port and one on the starboard side of the cargo
ship. El Occidente’s gunners seriously damaged one of the submarines and
eventually forced both U-boats to retreat. It was one of the few instances
during the war where an armed cargo ship successfully beat back a submarine
attack, especially one that was made by two U-boats at once.
On 27 August 1918, El Occidente was transferred to the US Navy
and placed in commission on the same day. She officially became USS El Occidente
(No. 3307) and was loaded with 585 horses and mules and sailed from the United
States to France on 17 September. Five animals died during the voyage, but the
rest of the cargo arrived safely at Saint-Nazaire several days later. Trucks
were still in their infancy during World War I, being fragile and lacking in
mechanical reliability. Most artillery and supplies were still being
transported by horse-drawn wagons, so horses and mules were important to the US
Army, making El Occidente’s cargo very valuable. El Occidente
returned to the United States on 1 November, shortly before the war ended ten
days later. The cargo ship made two more trips to France for the US Navy before
being decommissioned at New York City on 18 March 1919 and transferred to the
US Shipping Board for disposal.
El
Occidente was returned to the Morgan Line in March 1919 and, after having her
animal stalls, ramps, and guns removed, was overhauled and converted back into
a civilian cargo ship. She served in this capacity until June 1941, when the
United States Maritime Commission announced that it had acquired the entire
Morgan Line fleet of ten ships, including El Occidente. The ten ships
were purchased for $4.7 million, with an additional $2.6 million being given
for repairs and refits. The principal mission of the ten ships was to bring
supplies to countries fighting Germany during World War II, even though the
United States was still technically neutral.
El
Occidente was officially transferred to the US Maritime Commission on 7 July
1941 and assigned to the United States Lines. Ironically, the ship was placed
under Panamanian registry by the United States Lines. Since the ship no longer
carried animals, weapons, or US Navy personnel, the crew size was reduced to 41
Merchant Marine officers and men. Little is known of El Occidente’s
movements over the next several months, but on 30 January 1942, shortly after
America had entered the war on 7 December 1941, El Occidente left
Boston, Massachusetts, for Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, with general cargo. Arriving
at Halifax on 1 February, the ship joined Convoy HX-174 and headed for
Liverpool, England, on 7 February. The convoy reached its destination on 21
February 1942.
Two days later, El Occidente sailed for Reykjavik, Iceland,
where she arrived on 1 March 1942. The ship arrived just in time to join Convoy
PQ-12 to Murmansk, Russia. After the convoy arrived at Murmansk on 12 March, El
Occidente unloaded her cargo and took on a partial ballast load of chromium
ore. She left with Convoy QP-10 bound for Iceland on 10 April.
