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USS Nereus (AC-10)

USS Nereus AC-10  loading coal at Nagasaki, Japan in April 1916.
Nereus loads coal at Nagasaki, Japan in April 1916
History
 United States
Name: USS Nereus
Namesake: Nereus
Builder: Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company
Laid down: 4 December 1911
Launched: 26 April 1913
Commissioned: 10 September 1913
Decommissioned: 30 June 1922
Struck: 5 December 1940
Fate:
  • Sold, 27 February 1941
  • Lost at sea, December 1941
General characteristics
Class and type: Proteus-class collier
Displacement: 19,360 long tons (19,670 t) (full load)
Length: 542 ft (165 m)
Beam: 65 ft (20 m)
Draft: 27 ft 9 in (8.46 m)
Speed: 15 kn (17 mph; 28 km/h)
Complement: 236 officers and enlisted

USS Nereus (AC-10) was one of four Proteus-class colliers built for the United States Navy before World War I. Named for Nereus, an aquatic deity from Greek mythology, she was the second U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name. Nereus was laid down on 4 December 1911, and launched on 26 April 1913 by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, Newport News, Virginia, and commissioned on 10 September 1913.

Detached from Naval Overseas Transportation Service on 12 September 1919, Nereus served with the Atlantic Fleet until decommissioned at Norfolk on 30 June 1922. She was laid up there until struck from the Navy List on 5 December 1940. Sold to the Aluminium Company of Canada on 27 February 1941, Nereus operated out of Montreal carrying bauxite from the Caribbean to aluminum plants in the United States and Canada. Her master (commanding officer) was John Thomas Bennett of the Canadian Merchant Navy.

Nereus was lost at sea sometime after 10 December 1941 while steaming from St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands (along the same route where her sister ship, Cyclops, had disappeared) with ore destined to make aluminum for Allied aircraft. Nereus was presumed sunk after being torpedoed by a German U-boat. However, there are no German U-boat claims for this vessel.

The wreckage has never been located nor the actual cause of her disappearance determined. A memorial listing for her crew can be found on the CWGC Halifax memorial.


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