USS Thomas (1894)

Thomas in drydock to repair a broken propeller
History
Name:	Persia (1894–97) Minnewaska (1897–1898) Thomas (1898–1929)
Namesake:	General George Henry Thomas
Builder:	Harland & Wolff, Belfast
Launched:	1894
Acquired:	by purchase, 26 July 1898
Fate:	Sold for scrap 14 May 1929
General characteristics
Type:	Transport
Tonnage:	5,713 long tons (5,805 t)
Length:	445 ft 6 in (135.79 m)
Beam:	50 ft 2 in (15.29 m)
Propulsion:	Triple expansion engine, 499 nhp, twin screws
Speed:	14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)

USAT Thomas was a United States Army transport ship, launched as the SS Persia in 1894, having been built for the Hamburg America Line's service to New York. She was bought by the Atlantic Transport Line in 1897 because she was "practically a sister" to other Massachusetts class of ships already in service there. She was renamed SS Minnewaska by her new owners.

Minnewaska was one of six Atlantic Transport Line ships requisitioned by the U.S. Government for service as transports during the Spanish–American War, and purchased on 26 July 1898 for $660,000 and renamed Thomas after General George Henry Thomas, a hero of the American Civil War battle of Chickamauga.

Thomas could accommodate 100 officers, 1,200 men and 1,000 horses, and also had refrigerated capacity for shipping 1,000 pounds (450 kg) of meat, particularly prized because beef was considered an essential element of the military diet.

A brief article in the Maryville Times of 28 October 1899 describes the ship and her facilities:

On the main deck is the ice-making plant with a capacity of two tons per day. There is also a condensing apparatus for changing salt water into filtered fresh water, with a capacity of 10,000 gallons a day; a carbonating machine, bakery, a laundry and a cold storage plant. On the spar deck are the soldiers writing-room, a dining room with seventy-six seats for company and ships officers, a saloon and lavatories. The Quartermasters department, commanding officers headquarters, regular officers quarters and smoking and lounging rooms are on the promenade deck.

During the Spanish–American War, vessels going to and from the Philippines made a point of stopping and raising the American flag on Wake Island before it was formally annexed by the United States in 1899. One of these, in July 1898, was the Thomas.

The Peace Corps tradition was arguably started by the Thomasites, a group of educators who got their name from the Thomas. This ship brought the first batch of 540 American teachers and some of their family members to initiate a new era of public education in the Philippines in August 1901.