USS West Bridge (ID-2888)

West Bridge shortly before completion in May 1918
History
United States
Name:	USS West Bridge (ID-2888)
Builder:	J. F. Duthie & Company Seattle, Washington
Yard number:	11
Launched:	24 April 1918
Completed:	26 May 1918
Acquired:	26 May 1918
Commissioned:	26 May 1918
Decommissioned:	1 December 1919
Identification:	US official number: 216348 IMO number: 5520680
Fate:	returned to United States Shipping Board
History
Name:	1919–1929: West Bridge 1929–1939: Barbara Cates 1939–1945: Pan Gulf 1945–1966: Lermontov (Russian: Лермонтов)
Namesake:	1945: Mikhail Lermontov
Owner:	1919: U.S. Shipping Board 1929: Sudden and Christenson 1938: Waterman 1939: Pan Atlantic 1943: War Shipping Administration 1945: Soviet Union
Operator:	1945: FESCO 1950: Black Sea Shipping Co.
Port of registry:	1919: Seattle 1929:  San Francisco 1938:  Mobile, Alabama 1940:  Wilmington, Delaware 1944:  New York 1945: Soviet Union
Fate:	scrapped at Split, 29 June 1966
General characteristics
Type:	cargo ship
Tonnage:	5,799 GRT
Displacement:	12,200 long tons (12,400 t)
Length:	409 ft 5 in (124.79 m) (pp) 423 ft 9 in (129.16 m) (oa)
Beam:	54 ft 0 in (16.46 m)
Draft:	24 ft 1 in (7.34 m) (mean)
Depth of hold:	29 ft 9 in (9.07 m)
Propulsion:	1 × triple-expansion steam engine, 2,500 hp (1,900 kW)
Speed:	10.5 knots (19.4 km/h)
Capacity:	8,594 long tons deadweight (DWT)
Complement:	88 (as USS West Bridge)
Armament:	World War I: 1 × 4-inch (102 mm) gun 1 × 3-inch (76 mm) gun

USS West Bridge (ID-2888) was a cargo ship in the United States Navy during World War I. She was begun as SS War Topaz but was completed as SS West Bridge, though she was referred to in some publications under the spelling Westbridge. After the ship was decommissioned from the Navy, the ship returned to civilian service as SS West Bridge, but was renamed SS Barbara Cates, and SS Pan Gulf over the course of her civilian career under American registry. Near the end of World War II, the ship was renamed SS Lermontov (Russian: Лермонтов) when she sailed under the Soviet flag.

West Bridge was one of the West ships, a series of steel-hulled cargo ships built for the United States Shipping Board (USSB) on the West Coast of the United States. The ship was launched in April 1918 and delivered to the U.S. Navy upon completion in May. After commissioning, USS West Bridge sailed from the Pacific Northwest to the East Coast of the United States and joined a convoy of cargo ships headed to France in August. After West Bridge suffered an engine breakdown at sea, the convoy was attacked by two German submarines and West Bridge was torpedoed and abandoned. A salvage crew from American destroyer Smith boarded the ship the following day, and, working with four tugs dispatched from France, successfully brought the ship into port. Four men received the Navy Cross for their efforts in saving West Bridge.