USS Kerowlee

USS Kerowlee was a United States Navy cargo ship in commission from 1918 to 1919.

USS Kerowlee in port ca. April–June 1919, possibly at Danzig, Germany.
History
United States
Name	USS Kerowlee
Namesake	Previous name retained
Builder	J. Readhead and Sons, South Shields, England
Launched	18 February 1901
Completed	1901
Acquired	17 October 1918
Commissioned	17 October 1918
Decommissioned	11 August 1919
Fate	Transferred to United States Shipping Board on 11 August 1919 for simultaneous return to owner Wrecked late March 1920
Notes	In commercial service as SS Campania and SS Kerowlee 1901-1918, and as SS Kerowlee 1919-1920
General characteristics
Type	Cargo ship
Tonnage	3,550 Gross register tons
Displacement	3,350 long tons (3,400 t)
Length	350 ft (110 m)
Beam	46 ft 8 in (14.22 m)
Draft	23 ft (7.0 m)
Propulsion	Steam engine
Speed	10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement	84
Armament	1 × 4-inch (102-millimeter) gun

Kerowlee was built in 1901 at South Shields, England, by J. Readhead and Sons as a commercial cargo ship. She operated under the name SS Campania during at least part of her commercial service. She was named SS Kerowlee and the property of Kerr Navigation Company of New York City by the time the United States Army took control of her at Le Havre, France, on 1 December 1917 for World War I service. The U.S. Navy acquired her from the Army at Cardiff, Wales, on 17 October 1918 and commissioned her the same day as USS Kerowlee. Unlike most commercial ships commissioned into U.S. Navy service during World War I, Kermoor never received a naval registry Identification Number (Id. No.).

Departing Cardiff on 3 November 1918 for Brest, France, Kerowlee operated between ports on the English Channel ports in England and France until 11 April 1919, carrying coal and military supplies.

Kerowlee was assigned to the United States Food Administration on 11 April 1919 to carry foodstuffs between St. Nazaire, France, and Danzig, Germany.

Transferred to a United States Shipping Board account on 1 June 1919, Kerowlee departed St. Nazaire on 8 July 1919 with a load of U.S. Army cargo for the United States. Arriving at Norfolk, Virginia, on 25 July 1919, she was decommissioned on 11 August 1919 and transferred to the U.S. Shipping Board the same day for simultaneous return to the Kerr Navigation Company.

The ship returned to commercial service as SS Kerowlee. She was wrecked in the Weser in Germany in late March 1920[1] and broke in two on 25 March 1920.[2]