USAT Antilles
SS Antilles torpedoed while operating as the U.S. Army chartered transport Antilles.
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| History | |
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| Name: | SS Antilles |
| Operator: |
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| Builder: | William Cramp & Sons Shipbuilding Company |
| Launched: | 1907 |
| Fate: | Sunk by U-boat, 17 Oct. 1917 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Passenger-cargo ship |
| Tonnage: | 6,879 GRT |
| Displacement: | 10,500 (normal coal supply) |
| Length: | on load line: 421 feet 11.5 inches (128.6 m) |
| Beam: | extreme: 53 feet (16.2 m) |
| Draft: | mean: 26 feet (7.9 m) |
| Notes: | O/N 204018 |
SS Antilles was an American passenger-cargo ship launched in 1907. Chartered by the U.S. Army in 1917 for use as a troop transport ship, Antilles was sunk by a German U-boat on 17 October 1917, resulting in the loss of 67 lives. At the time of its destruction the Antilles sinking represented the largest single greatest loss of American lives to that point in World War I.
SS Antilles, official number 204018, was a 6,879 gross ton vessel constructed in the shipyards of William Cramp & Sons Shipbuilding Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania delivered April 1907.Antilles was a twin screw steam vessel with nominal speed of 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) and dimensions of 421 feet 11.5 inches (128.6 m) on load line, extreme beam 53 feet (16.2 m) and mean draft of 26 feet (7.9 m) with a displacement at normal coal supply of 10,500 tons.
The vessel was operated as a combined passenger and cargo ship by the Southern Pacific Steamship Company from the time of its launch until 1917.Antilles and sister ship Momus, along with several other ships, operated between New York and New Orleans with Southern Pacific Steamship's Morgan Line.
Following American entry into World War I, selected by the Shipping Control Committee, Antilles was turned over 26 May 1917 and chartered by the United States Army for use as a civilian crewed U.S. Army Chartered Transport (USACT). The ship was among those in the first troop convoy to depart on 14 June, after considerable confusion and delays in troop loading, from the Hoboken Port of Embarkation.Antilles sailed from New York on 24 September in a four ship convoy, designated Group Number 8, composed of Antilles, a new Navy transport Henderson, another Army chartered transport Finland and another Army chartered ship that turned back, Lenape. The convoy made the crossing successfully but both Antilles and Finland were torpedoed on the return voyage.
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