Name USS Absaroka Commissioned 17 September 1918 Launched 1917 Builder Seattle | Namesake Absaroka Range Decommissioned 4 March 1919 Length 129 m | |
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Fate Returned to United States Shipping Board Displacement 12,397 long tons (12,596 t) | ||
USS Absaroka was a steamer in the service of the United States Navy, named after the Absaroka Range of mountains in Montana and Wyoming.
Absaroka was built in 1917 for the United States Shipping Board by Skinner & Eddy Company, Seattle, Washington, taken over by the Navy on a bare boat basis on 17 September 1918, and commissioned that same day, Lt. Comdr. O. W. Hughes in command.
Absaroka was assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service following her commissioning. Between October 1918 and February 1919, the ship made two transatlantic voyages carrying Army cargo to ports in France, England, and the Netherlands. During her second trip, Absaroka rescued the captain and crew of the disabled British steamer War Marvel and landed them safely at Falmouth, England.
The ship arrived in New York City on 12 February 1919 and was immediately drydocked for overhaul. Absaroka was decommissioned on 4 March 1919 and returned to the United States Shipping Board.
She was owned at the beginning of World War II by McCormick Steamship Company being used as a lumber carrier. She was torpedoed and damaged by I-19 ( Imperial Japanese Navy) off Point Fermin, California, and beached off Fort MacArthur.