USS Cyclops (AC-4)
USS Cyclops on the Hudson River in 1911.
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| History | |
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 United States
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| Name: | USS Cyclops |
| Namesake: | Cyclops |
| Builder: | William Cramp and Sons, Philadelphia |
| Launched: | 7 May 1910 |
| Commissioned: | 1 May 1917 |
| Fate: | Lost at sea, March 1918 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Proteus-class collier |
| Displacement: | 19,360 long tons (19,670 t) full |
| Length: | 542 ft (165 m) |
| Beam: | 65 ft (20 m) |
| Draft: | 27 ft 8 in (8.43 m) |
| Speed: | 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
| Complement: | 236 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: | 4 × 4 in (100 mm) guns |
| Notes: |
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USS Cyclops (AC-4) was one of four Proteus-class colliers built for the United States Navy several years before World War I. Named for the Cyclops, a primordial race of giants from Greek mythology, she was the second U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name. The loss of the ship and 306 crew and passengers without a trace within the area known as the Bermuda Triangle some time after 4 March 1918 remains the single largest loss of life in U.S. Naval history not directly involving combat. As it was wartime, there was speculation she was captured or sunk by a German raider or submarine, because she was carrying 10,800 long tons (11,000 t) of manganese ore used to produce munitions, but German authorities at the time, and subsequently, denied any knowledge of the vessel. The Naval History & Heritage Command has stated she "probably sank in an unexpected storm" But the ultimate cause of the ship's fate is unknown.
Cyclops was launched on 7 May 1910, by William Cramp and Sons, Philadelphia, and placed in service on 7 November 1910, with Lieutenant Commander George Worley, Master, Naval Auxiliary Service, in command. Operating with the Naval Auxiliary Service, Atlantic Fleet, she voyaged in the Baltic from May–July 1911 to supply Second Division ships. Returning to Norfolk, Virginia, she operated on the east coast from Newport, Rhode Island, to the Caribbean, servicing the fleet. During the United States occupation of Veracruz in Mexico in 1914–1915, she coaled ships on patrol there and received the thanks of the U.S. State Department for cooperation in evacuating refugees.
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