USS Zuiderdijk (ID-2724)

Cargo ship SS Zuiderdijk in port prior to her 1918-1919 U.S. Navy service as USS Zuiderdijk (Id. No. 2724)
History
United States
Name:	USS Zuiderdijk
Namesake:	Previous name retained after acquisition
Builder:	William Gray & Company Ltd, West Hartlepool, England, United Kingdom
Completed:	1912
Acquired:	21 March 1918
Commissioned:	23 March 1918
Decommissioned:	21 July 1919
Struck:	21 July 1919
Fate:	Returned to owner 21 July 1919
Notes:	Served as commercial freighter SS Sharistan and Zuiderdijk 1912-1918, Zuiderdijk from 1919 to 1923, and SS Misty Law from 1923 until the early 1930s
General characteristics
Type:	Cargo ship
Tonnage:	5,208 gross register tons
Displacement:	11,500 tons
Length:	412 ft 0 in (125.58 m)
Beam:	53 ft 5 in (16.28 m)
Draft:	24 ft 1 in (7.34 m)
Speed:	12 knots
Complement:	124
Armament:	1 × 4-inch (102-mm) gun

USS Zuiderdijk (Id. No. 2724) was a cargo ship that served in the United States Navy from 1918 to 1919.

Zuiderdijk was built as the freighter SS Sharistan in 1912 by William Gray & Company Ltd. at West Hartlepool, England, in the United Kingdom. Later renamed SS Zuiderdijk, she was in commercial operation with the Holland-America Line in 1918, when the pressing need of the United States for ships to transport men and material to the front in Europe during World War I forced President Woodrow Wilson to order the seizure of Dutch ships in American ports under international law's right of angary. Customs officials at San Juan, Puerto Rico, took possession of her on 21 March 1918 and turned her over to the U.S. Navy, which placed her in commission as USS Zuiderdijk (Id. No. 2724) on 23 March 1918, Lieutenant W. F. Reefer, USNRF, in command.

After preliminary refitting and arming, Zuiderdijk departed San Juan on 29 March 1918 and shaped a course for the Panama Canal Zone. She remained at Cristobal, Panama, for nearly a month before getting underway on 25 April 1918 and steaming north. The ship entered New York Harbor on 4 May 1918, unloaded the Panama Railroad Company cargo she had picked up at Cristobal, and replaced it with United States Army supplies destined for Europe.