Name Yarrowdale Name Hohenfelde Length 101 m | Launched 1892 Acquired 1912 Weight 5,800 tons | |
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Builder William Pickersgill & Sons, Sunderland, England Renamed Nicolas Castriotis, 1902 | ||
USS Long Beach (AK-9) was a cargo ship acquired by the U.S. Navy for service in World War I.
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Seizing a German freighter
The first Long Beach commissioned by the Navy, (No. 2136) was built as SS Yarrowdale by William Pickersgill & Sons, Sunderland, England, in 1892; renamed SS Nicolas Castriotis in 1902 and, while in German service, SS Hohenfelde in 1912; seized by USSB 6 April 1917 at Savannah, Georgia; acquired by the Navy the same day; and commissioned at Charleston, South Carolina, 20 December 1917, Lt. Comdr. E. Nelson, USNRF, in command.
World War I North Atlantic operations
Assigned to Train, special service, Long Beach delivered lumber from Jacksonville, Florida, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from 26 December 1917 to 9 January 1918, then sailed from Norfolk, Virginia, 4 February for Dublin, Ireland, arriving 3 March to join the Army’s Cross Channel Service. She carried coal from England and Ireland to French ports for use by American troops until 23 April 1919, when she cleared Dublin with a cargo of aviation material for Norfolk, arriving 13 May.
Post-war operations
After overhaul at Philadelphia, Long Beach joined NOTS, home ported at Norfolk. She carried coal to Portsmouth, New Hampshire; Boston, Massachusetts; and Key West, Florida, with a voyage to the West Indies to supply marine detachments early in 1920, and again the next fall.
Decommissioning
She cleared Norfolk 19 December for Melville, Rhode Island, with coal, then entered Boston Navy Yard where she decommissioned 26 April 1921. On 24 May 1922 she was sold to Mr. B. L. Stafford of New York.