SS Ohioan (1914)

USS Ohioan was a cargo ship built in 1914 for the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company. During World War I, she was taken over by the United States Navy and commissioned as USS Ohioan. Her post-war career was relatively uneventful until 8 October 1936, when she ran aground near Seal Rock at the Golden Gate. The ship’s hulk caught fire in March 1937, and the wreck broke into two pieces in a storm in December. She is now a museum ship in San Francisco and is on display at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

About SS Ohioan (1914) in brief

Summary SS Ohioan (1914)6,649 GRTSS Ohioan was a cargo ship built in 1914 for the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company. During World War I, she was taken over by the United States Navy and commissioned as USS Ohioan. Ohioan’s post-war career was relatively uneventful until 8 October 1936, when she ran aground near Seal Rock at the Golden Gate, the entrance to San Francisco Bay. The ship’s hulk caught fire in March 1937, and the wreck broke into two pieces in a storm in December. Unlike her surviving sister ships, there is no evidence that Ohioan ever chartered by the U.S. Army; her activities between the declaration of war on Germany in April 1917 and her acquisition by the Navy in August 1918 are unknown. She was commissioned into the Naval Overseas Transportation Service two days later, under a charter for general cargo. She sailed for Saint-Nazaire, France, where she arrived on 29 August Dividing Dividers, and then sailed for New York on 1 October Brest Brest. In November, Ohioan sailed for La Brest, loaded with 60 officers and men, and loaded with general cargo before sailing for La Laest, La Divider, and general cargo on 1 November.

In December, she sailed for San Francisco, loading cargo and equestrian stalls for the next month before sailing to New York for a refit and taking on a load of cargo. In January 1939, she arrived at San Francisco with a cargo load of $1,000,000 and a cargo hold of 438,154 cubic feet. In March 1940, she returned to her original owners and was decommissioned and returned to port. She is now a museum ship in San Francisco and is on display at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, along with her sister ship, the USS Iowan. She has been converted into a private museum. She had a single steam engine powered by oil-fired boilers that drove a single screw propeller at a speed of 12 knots. She carried cargo, animals, and a limited number of passengers to France, and returned over 8,000 American troops after the Armistice, including the highly decorated American soldier Alvin York.