SS Martha Washington
USS Martha Washington inbound to Hampton Roads, Virginia, from Brest, France, 1918.
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.svg){kind=small} Austria-Hungary
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| Name: | SS Martha Washington |
| Namesake: | Martha Washington |
| Owner: | Austro-American Line |
| Port of registry: | Trieste, Austria-Hungary |
| Route: | Trieste–New York |
| Builder: |
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| Launched: | 1908 |
| Fate: | Interned in the United States, 1914 |
 United States
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| Name: | USAT Martha Washington |
| Acquired: | 6 April 1917 |
| Fate: | transferred to the U.S. Navy, November 1917 |
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United States
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| Name: | USS Martha Washington (ID-3019) |
| Acquired: | November 1917 |
| Commissioned: | 2 January 1918 |
| Decommissioned: | 18 November 1919 |
| Struck: | 18 November 1919 |
| Fate: | transferred to the War Department for use by the U.S. Army |
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United States
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| Name: | USAT Martha Washington |
| Acquired: | after 18 November 1919 |
| Fate: | Sold to Cosulich Line, 1922 |
 Italy
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| Name: | SS Martha Washington |
| Owner: |
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| Port of registry: | Trieste, Italy |
| Renamed: | 1932: SS Tel Aviv |
| Fate: | Scrapped, 1934 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 8,312 GRT |
| Displacement: | 12,700 tons |
| Length: | 460 ft (140.2 m) |
| Beam: | 56 ft (17.1 m) |
| Draft: | 24 ft 6 in (7.5 m) |
| Propulsion: | steam engine powered by screw propeller |
| Speed: | 17.2 knots (31.9 km/h) |
| Troops: | 3,380 |
| Complement: | 949 |
| Armament: |
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USS Martha Washington (ID‑3019) was a transport for the United States Navy during World War I named for Martha Washington, the first First Lady of the United States. She was originally ocean liner SS Martha Washington for the Austro-American Line before the war. Before and after her Navy service she was the United States Army transport USAT Martha Washington. The liner was sold to the Italian Cosulich Line in 1922. In 1932, when Cosulich was absorbed into Italia Flotte Riunite (English: United Fleets Italy), the ship was renamed SS Tel Aviv. The ship was scrapped in 1934.
Martha Washington was launched in 1908 by Russell & Co. of Port Glasgow, Scotland for the Austro-American Line (formal name: Unione Austriaca di Navigazione). The liner sailed between Trieste and New York City.
On the evening of 20 November 1911, while steaming in the Ionian Sea from Patras and headed for New York, Martha Washington came under fire from an Italian battleship for a period of ten minutes, with shells falling within one ship length (approximately 500 ft or 150 m) of the liner. According to the captain of the liner, the Italians, fighting against Turkey in the Italo-Turkish War, mistook Martha Washington for a Turkish ship. The ship was allowed to pass unharmed after the crew used a signal lamp to communicate her identity to the Italians.
At the outbreak of World War I, Martha Washington was interned at Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1914.
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Wikipedia