USS Sierra (ID-1634)

For other ships with the same name, see USS Sierra.

USS Sierra (ID-1634) in port, ca. 1919.
History
United States
Name	USS Sierra
Namesake	Sierra Nevada mountain range (previous name retained)
Builder	William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Launched	29 May 1900[1]
Completed	1900
Acquired	27 May 1918
Commissioned	1 July 1918
Decommissioned	1 October 1919
Stricken	1 October 1919
Fate	Returned to owners 1 October 1919
Notes	Operated as commercial passenger ship SS Sierra 1900-1918 and from 1919; later renamed SS Gdansk
General characteristics
Type	Troop transport
Tonnage	5,989 Gross register tons[2]
Displacement	9,680 tons (normal)
Length	416 ft 0 in (126.80 m)
Beam	50 ft 2 in (15.29 m)
Draft	24 ft 0 in (7.32 m) (mean)
Depth	25 ft 11 in (7.90 m)
Propulsion	Steam
Speed	16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)
Complement	284
Armament	4 × 6-inch (152-mm) guns 2 × 1-pounder (0.45-kg) guns 2 × machine guns

The first USS Sierra (ID-1634) was a troop transport of the United States Navy that served during World War I and its immediate aftermath.

Construction and acquisition

SS Sierra was constructed as a commercial passenger ship in 1900 by William Cramp & Sons in Philadelphia for the San Francisco to Australia service via Hawaii of the Oceanic Steamship Company.^[3] The ship was the first of a series of three to be built for the line with the others being Sonoma and Ventura.^[4]

The U.S. Navy acquired her from the John D. Spreckel Brothers Company in San Francisco, California, on 27 May 1918 for use as a troop transport during World War I and assigned her the identification number 1634. After conversion work was complete, she was commissioned as USS Sierra (ID-1634) on 1 July 1918.

U.S. Navy career

Sierra was assigned to transatlantic service upon commissioning, and she transported troops from the United States to France until the end of World War I on 11 November 1918. After the war, she engaged in the reverse process of bringing American troops home from Europe for another eleven months.

Decommissioning and disposal

Sierra was decommissioned on 1 October 1919. On the same day, her name was stricken from the Navy list and she was returned to her owners.

Later career

As SS Sierra, the ship returned to commercial passenger service. She later was renamed SS Gdansk.^[2]

Gallery

• 
  USS Sierra at the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York, 6 July 1918, painted in pattern camouflage.
• 
  USS Sierra in a European port, ca. 1918.

Notes

1. Marine Engineering (July 1900).
2. Naval History and Heritage Command Online Library of Selected Images: U.S. Navy Ships -- USS Sierra (ID # 1634), 1918-1919
3. Marine Engineering (July 1900), p. 302.
4. Marine Engineering (September 1900), p. 393.

References

•  This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• Marine Engineering (July 1900). "Launches—Home and Foreign". Marine Engineering. 5 (July 1900). New York: Aldrich & Donaldson. Retrieved 2015-03-02.
• Marine Engineering (September 1900). "Launches—Home and Foreign". Marine Engineering. 5 (September 1900). New York: Aldrich & Donaldson. Retrieved 2015-03-02.
• "Naval History and Heritage Command Online Library of Selected Images: U.S. Navy Ships -- USS Sierra (ID # 1634), 1918-1919". Archived from the original on 2012-10-16. Retrieved 2024-08-04.

External links

• Media related to Sierra (ship, 1900) at Wikimedia Commons
• Photos of USS Sierra (ID-1634) and related photos at the Library of Congress Web Archives (archived 2012-10-16)
• USS Sierra (ID # 1634), 1918-1919 -- On Board and Close-Up Views at the Library of Congress Web Archives (archived 2013-12-11)