SS Zaca

USS Zaca (ID-3792) was a steel-hulled, single-screw freighter that served in the United States Navy from 1918 to 1919. She was the first ship to serve by that name.

SS Zaca on trials on 20 December 1918, ten days before commissioning as USS Zaca (ID-3792)
History
United States
Name	USS Zaca
Namesake	Probably a Chumash Native American word meaning "village" or "chief"
Builder	Moore Shipbuilding Company, Oakland, California
Launched	24 August 1918
Completed	1918
Acquired	1918
Commissioned	30 December 1918
Decommissioned	12 May 1919
Stricken	12 May 1919
Fate	Returned to United States Shipping Board 12 May 1919
Notes	Operated commercially by United States Shipping Board as SS Zaca from 1919 until 1920 Burned out October 1920 Scrapped January 1924
General characteristics
Type	Design 1015 ship
Tonnage	6,204 GRT
Displacement	12,600 tons
Length	416 ft 6 in (126.95 m)
Beam	53 ft 0 in (16.15 m)
Draft	26 ft 5.25 in (8.0582 m) mean
Propulsion	Steam engine, one shaft
Speed	10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement	70
Armament	none

Zaca was a Design 1015 ship built under a United States Shipping Board contract and completed as SS Zaca in 1918 at Oakland, California, by the Moore Shipbuilding Company. She was acquired by the U.S. Navy for duty with the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS). Designated Id. No. 3792, she was commissioned as USS Zaca on 30 December 1918 at her builder's yard.

Following sea trials, Zaca loaded 7,446 tons of flour at the Sperry Mills Dock, Vallejo, California, and got underway from San Francisco Bay on 12 January 1919, bound for the United States East Coast. While in the Panama Canal Zone, the freighter took on board 41 passengers for transportation to Norfolk, Virginia, and transited the Panama Canal on 30 January 1919. She arrived in Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 8 February 1919.

Zaca spent a week at Norfolk replenishing and undergoing minor repairs before sailing for European waters on 15 February 1919 with her cargo of flour, which had been consigned by the United States Food Administration for the relief of the hungry people of war-torn Europe in the aftermath of World War I. After arriving at Danzig on 19 March 1919, she discharged her cargo and sailed for the United States on 4 April 1919.

Proceeding via Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and Plymouth, England, Zaca arrived at New York City on 29 April 1919, unloaded her ballast, and was decommissioned on 12 May 1919, the same day on which she was returned to the United States Shipping Board and struck from the Navy List.

As SS Zaca, the ship operated commercially under the flag of the United States Shipping Board until October 1920, when she was burned out by a ruptured fuel oil pipe in her engine room. Her hulk was towed to New York City, where it lay until she was scrapped in January 1924.