Name USS Mexican Completed 1907 Commissioned 23 December 1917 Length 149 m Builder Union Iron Works | Namesake Previous name retained Acquired 23 December 1917 Decommissioned 4 August 1919 Weight 19,860 tons | |
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USS Mexican (ID-1655) was a United States Navy cargo ship and troop transport in commission from 1917 to 1919.
SS Mexican was built in 1907 at San Francisco, California, by the Union Iron Works as a commercial cargo ship for the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company of New York City. The United States Department of War acquired Mexican for World War I service on a bareboat charter basis on 10 December 1917. On 23 December 1917, the Department of War transferred Mexican to the U.S. Navy, which gave her the naval registry Identification Number (Id. No.) 1655 and commissioned her the same day as USS Mexican.
Manned by U.S. Navy personnel and operated on a United States Army account, Mexican was assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service and served as an animal transport through the end of World War I.
Mexican was in port at St. Nazaire, France on 13 May 1918 when a fire broke out aboard her. Lookouts aboard the cargo ship USS Alaskan (ID-4542), lying directly astern of Mexican, spotted the fire breaking out. Alaskan called away her fire and rescue party, which aided Mexican's men in controlling the blaze before it did serious damage.
On 13 December 1918, Mexican was transferred to the Cruiser and Transport Force for use as a troop transport. Refitted for that purpose by the U.S. Army, she steamed on round-trip voyages from the United States East Coast to Europe for several months in 1919, bringing American troops who had completed their war service in Europe home to the United States.
The Navy returned Mexican to the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company on 4 August 1919. She returned to commercial service as SS Mexican until she was scrapped in 1948.