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USS Mount Vernon, WW1 Transport & Captured German Liner


DevilDan1900
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Here is a large photo I have had for a while and decided to post tonight of the WW1 transport USS Mount Vernon. The photo is in kinda rough shape, but the ship has an interesting story behind it. The Mount Vernon was originally built in 1906 as the "Kronprinzessin Cecilie", a German luxury liner. When war broke out, she was caught in the mid-Atlantic with a gold and silver shipment of over 14 million dollars aboard, payment from the U.S. to some British and French banks. Needless to say the Captain did not want to be caught in the war zone by a warship and be responsible for it's loss, so he turned the ship around. Several angry millionaires aboard actually demanded to buy the ship so it could hoist the American flag and sail into English waters as a neutral ship. On the way back, the tops of the funnels were painted black to impersonate the RMS Olympic, sister ship of the Titanic, and the ship safely slipped into the nearest port, Bar Harbor, Maine. When the U.S. entered the War, the ship was seized along with her sister ships, also in the U.S., and converted to transports. Her sister ships also had long and rediculous names and were renamed the USS Von Steuben and USS Agamemnon. During her service she was torpedoed once by a U-boat amidships, killing 35 crewman, but miraculously survived. This photo was likely taken after the war, as during it she wore a "dazzle" paint scheme (which obviously didn't work very well) and depicts her returning a full load of our boys home from "over there." She was retained in mothballs on the west coast until 1940, when she was deemed too old to be of any further service and scrapped.

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  • 9 years later...

Here is a view of the Mt. Vernon around 1917, before she received her dazzle paint scheme. The U.S. Navy has several images through her service career. Since my museum (Reed Gold Mine, Midland, NC) is having a WWI exhibit in April and May, we are showcasing this ship due a local gentleman loaning us items from his grandfather who served stoking boilers on this ship during the war.

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