Cruiser and Transport Force

The Cruiser and Transport Service was a unit of the United States Navy's Atlantic Fleet during World War I that was responsible for transporting American men and materiel to France.

Composition

On 1 July 1918, the Cruiser and Transport Force was composed of the following ships:[1]

Cruiser Force

Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves Commander

Squadron One

Cruiser Force, Squadron One, was under the command of Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves

Division One Seattle, flagship North Carolina Montana Huntington

Division Two South Dakota Pueblo Frederick San Diego

Division Three Columbia Minneapolis DeKalb Von Steuben

Special Duty Niagara Dubuque

Squadron Two

Cruiser Force, Squadron Two, was under the command of Rear Admiral Marbury Johnston

Division Four Cruiser Force, Squadron Two, Division Four, was commanded by Rear Admiral Hilary P. Jones Sialia, flagship Charleston St. Louis Rochester Olympia

Division Five Isis, flagship Denver Galveston Cleveland Des Moines

Division Six Albany New Orleans Tacoma Chattanooga

French Navy warships

The Dupetit-Thouars

French cruisers of the Naval Division of the Atlantic operating with Cruiser Force under the command of French Rear Admiral Marie Gaston Grout[2]

• Gloire, flagship
• Marseillaise
• Du Petit-Thouars (sunk by SM U-62, 7 August 1918)

Transport Force

New York Division

Transport Force, New York Division, was under the command of Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves

Agamemnon America Calamares Finland George Washington Great Northern Hancock Harrisburg Henderson Kroonland

Lenape Leviathan Louisville Henry R. Mallory Manchuria Matsonia Maui Mongolia Mount Vernon Northern Pacific

Orizaba Plattsburg President Grant Princess Matoika Rijndam Siboney Sierra Saint Paul Wilhelmina

Newport News Division

Transport Force, Newport News Division, was under the command of Rear Admiral Hilary P. Jones

Aeolus Antigone Huron Madawaska

Martha Washington Mercury Pastores Pocahontas

Powhatan Susquehanna Tenadores Zeelandia

Foreign vessels

Foreign vessels operating with the Transport Force Newport News Division

SS America (Italian) SS Caserta (Italian) HMT Czar (British)[3] HMT Czaritza (British)[3] SS Dante Alighieri (Italian)

SS Duca degli Abruzzi (Italian) SS Duca d'Aosta (Italian) SS France (French) HMT Kursk (British)[3]

SS Lutetia (French) SS Patria (French) SS Re d'Italia (Italian) SS Sobral (Brazilian)

Notes

1. Gleaves, p. 240. (Page 240 shows the date as "July 1, 1916", but is wrong. See p. 102 for a description of the appendices with the correct date of July 1, 1918, listed.)
2. "Marie Gaston GROUT (1863 - 1947)". École Navale (in French). Retrieved 29 January 2016..
3. Though belonging to the Russian American Line, the ship was under British charter. Also in this category was HMT Dwinsk which had been sunk on 18 June 1918.

References

• Gleaves, Albert (1921). A History of the Transport Service: Adventures and Experiences of United States Transports and Cruisers in the World War. New York: George H. Doran Company. OCLC 976757.