SS Registan

S.S. Guantanamo served as USS Guantanamo (ID # 1637) from 20 May 1918 to 25 January 1919.

During 1917 Guantanamo was inspected by the Third Naval District for use in 1919.[7] On 25 February 1918, the ship was turned over to the U.S. Navy at Philadelphia, commissioned on 21 May 1918 as USS Guantanamo (ID-1637), and began service transporting gunpowder and ammunition to forces in Europe. The ship made three voyages in convoy before arriving in New York on 11 December 1918 and being decommissioned on 25 January 1919.[2] The ship was returned to her owners, New York and Cuba Mail Steamship Company.[7]

In 1927 Guantanamo was renamed Comerio operating with another subsidiary of the same line and in 1940 sold to Italian interests and renamed Vittorin.[1]

Vittorin, idle at Norfolk, Virginia since June 1940, was detained at March 1941 and seized under the Act of June 6, 1941, Public Law 101-77th Congress, 46 U.S.C.A. which provided for seizure "during such emergency charter or requisition the use of, or take over the title to, or the possession of, for such use or disposition as he shall direct, any foreign merchant vessel which is lying idle in waters within the jurisdiction of the United States, including the Philippine Islands and the Canal Zone, and which is necessary to the national defense" with ownership passing to the War Shipping Administration.[1][8][9]

The ship, renamed Grey Lag, was placed in service 15 October 1941 with South Atlantic Steamship Company as the WSA operating agent.[9] On 2 October 1941 at New York WSA changed the operating agent to U.S. Navigation Company.[9] Effective 22 January 1943 at Brooklyn, New York the ship was bareboat chartered to the War Department for operation by the U.S. Army.[9]

By 12 October 1943 Grey Lag had arrived in the Southwest Pacific Area and was incorporated into the Army's permanent local fleet operating under the U.S. Army Services of Supply (USASOS SWPA) of General MacArthur's command.[10] The ship's dispatch to SWPA was in response to a request for hulls of "moderate draft" of between 4,000 and 6,000 dwt suitable for troop and cargo operations in the islands north of Australia with limited and shallow ports. In particular ships built on the Great Lakes, where size was determined by locks, were suitable with the requirement being met by ships generally termed "Lakers" or "Lake-Type Vessels" whether or not the ships were actual Lake vessels; though the majority delivered had been built and operated there. Grey Lag, though definitely not of Great Lakes origin, was one of the "Lakers" delivered under the request.[11]

By 1 December Grey Lag was one of fifty-two ships of the mixed fleet composed at the time largely of Dutch vessels, mostly Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij (KPM) ships from the Netherlands East Indies, and other allied vessels from Singapore and the Japanese conquest of the Indies that had sought refuge in Australian ports.[5] The ship was assigned the local fleet designation number of X-101.[3] By 15 July 1944 the ship was in a group assigned to the sub-fleet of ships operating in the New Guinea coastwise service (ADSOS Fleet) as AX-101.[12]

With a shortage of tugs, the invasion of the Philippines underway and an urgent need to move small and unpowered craft with cargo from New Guinea to Leyte, Grey Lag acted as a tow and as a cargo vessel.[13]

Sometime after 27 April 1946 Grey Lag was released from Army service, acquired by Coastwise Steamship and sold on 19 September 1946 to the Republic of China, Shanghai represented by the Chinese Supply Commission.[9] The ship was renamed Hai Lang and operated until scrapped in Taiwan January 1960.[1][9]