SS Deltargentino (1940)

History


Name:	SS Deltargentino
Operator:	Mississippi Shipping Company
Builder:	Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard, Baltimore County, Maryland
Laid down:	21 December 1939
Launched:	13 July 1940
Acquired:	8 November 1940
Fate:	Requisitioned by the United States Army, 28 June 1941

Name:	USAT J. W. McAndrew
Acquired:	28 June 1941
Fate:	Sold into commercial service, 22 December 1948

Name:	SS African Enterprise
Operator:	Farrell Lines
In service:	1949
Out of service:	1960
Fate:	To National Defense Reserve Fleet, 19 October 1960 Sold by MARAD, 9 April 1969 Broken up, February 1972
General characteristics
Displacement:	6,590 long tons (6,696 t) light 14,247 long tons (14,476 t) full load
Length:	491 ft (150 m) o/a 465 ft (142 m) p/p
Beam:	65 ft (20 m)
Draft:	25 ft 7 in (7.80 m) maximum
Propulsion:	1 × 7,800 hp (5,816 kW) General Electric turbine, 1 screw
Speed:	17.8 knots (33.0 km/h; 20.5 mph)
Armament:	1942 1 × 4"/50 caliber guns 2 × 3"/50 caliber guns 1943 1 × 5"/51 caliber guns 4 × 3"/50 caliber guns 8 × 20 mm guns 1945 1 × 5"/38 caliber guns 4 × 3"/50 caliber guns 8 × 20 mm guns

USAT J. W. McAndrew was a Type C3-P&C troop ship for the United States Army during World War II.

The ship was built by the Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard of Baltimore in 1940 as SS Deltargentino for the United States Maritime Commission on behalf of the Mississippi Shipping Company in 1940 for operation by its Delta Line. The ship was delivered to Mississippi Shipping in November 1940.

Deltargentino was among the ships designated for Army among the twenty-eight merchant vessels (twenty-one for the Navy and seven to the Army) requisitioned by the Maritime Commission's Division of Emergency Shipping announced on 4 June 1941. The ship would have been transferred to the Navy and named USS J. W. McAndrew (AP-47) in 1943, but this was cancelled. While serving as a U.S. Army transport ship in 1945, she collided with French aircraft carrier Béarn resulting in the loss of several lives. Afterward, the ship was repaired, and eventually sold in 1948 to the Farrell Lines for commercial use under the name SS African Enterprise.

The ship was laid up as part of the National Defense Reserve Fleet in October 1960, and was finally sold by the Maritime Administration (MARAD) on 9 April 1969. The ship was broken up in Baltimore in February 1972.

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