USS Aroostook (ID-1256 / CM-3 / AK-44) was a steamship that was built as the coastal cargo liner Bunker Hill. She was launched in 1907 by Rose Fitzgerald, who in 1914 became Rose Kennedy. In 1911 Bunker Hill was refitted as a passenger ship. She ran between Boston and New York until 1917, when the United States Navy commissioned her as USS Aroostook, and converted her into a minelayer. In 1918 she took part in laying the North Sea Mine Barrage.
In 1919 Aroostook was converted into a flying boat tender, and supported the US Navy's successful attempt to fly a flying boat from North America to Europe. In 1925 she supported the Navy's unsuccessful attempt to fly a flying boat from California to Hawaii, and led the search for the aircraft after it had to touch down in mid-ocean. In 1931 she was decommissioned and placed in the reserve fleet.
In 1941 the Navy tried to convert Aroostook back into a cargo ship, but found it impractical due to her age. She was stricken from the Naval Register in 1943, and her name was reverted to Bunker Hill. In 1946 the former boot-legger Anthony Cornero bought her, renamed her Lux, and had her converted into a gambling ship. The United States Coast Guard seized her, and in 1947 she was scrapped.
Cargo ship In 1907 William Cramp & Sons of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania built three cargo ships for the New England Navigation Company, which was a subsidiary of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad to compete with the Metropolitan Line ships and Harvard between Boston and New York. The Quintard Iron Works Company of New York designed the three ships to have enough freeboard and structural strength to operate offshore in the North Atlantic, but also be able to fit into the ports of New Haven, New London, Providence, Fall River, and New Bedford. They were designed as cargo ships, but also had four cabins for passengers. Each ship carried four lifeboats, and was designed to be equipped with wireless telegraphy.
Yard number 343 was launched on 29 January 1907 as Massachusetts. The New England Navigation Company planned to call yard number 344 Commonwealth. However, John F. Fitzgerald, Mayor of Boston, proposed that his 16-year-old daughter Rose launch the ship, on condition that the company change the name to commemorate the 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill in the Siege of Boston. The company agreed, and on 26 March 1907 Rose Fitzgerald launched her as Bunker Hill.
Bunker Hills lengths were overall and between perpendiculars. Her beam was and her depth was . Her main deck could carry 1,500 tons of cargo. Cargo was loaded and unloaded via doors in each side of the ship (see 1908 photo). Her tonnages were and .
Like her sister ship Massachusetts, she had twin screws, each driven by a four-cylinder triple-expansion engine. The combined power of her twin engines was rated at 674 NHP or 7,500 ihp, which gave her a speed of . This made Massachusetts and Bunker Hill the swiftest cargo ships on the coastal route between Boston and New York. Cramp completed Massachusetts in April 1907, and Bunker Hill that June.
Bunker Hill was registered in New London. Her US official number was 204264 and her code letters were KWDT. On her maiden voyage, on 11 July 1907, she steamed along Long Island Sound from New York to Fall River in seven and a half hours. This set a new record, and won her the title of "Queen of the Sound".
Cramp built a third ship, yard number 345. She was launched as Old Colony; completed in September 1907; and entered service that November. She differed from her two sisters by having three screws instead of two, driven by Parsons turbines instead of reciprocating engines.
The three sister ships soon achieved the New Haven Railroad's aim to monopolise the sea route between Boston and New York. In November 1907 the New England Navigation Company announced that from January 1908 the three ships would start a direct cargo service between Boston and New York, at prices about 25 percent less than was currently in force. The voyage would take about 24 hours; sailings would be three times a week; and they could be increased to daily if there was enough demand. The service would run via the "outside route", i.e. the seaward side of Long Island, instead of through Long Island Sound. That December their competitors, Yale and Harvard, were laid up. At the same time, the New Haven laid off up to 4,000 railroad workers. The first sailing on the new route was by Bunker Hill, which left Boston at 17:00 hrs on 4 January 1908. Departures from Boston were to be each Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
Sinking of Transfer No. 3 On 2 October 1907 Bunker Hill was in New York harbor. At about 06:20 hrs that morning a New Haven Railroad tugboat, Transfer No. 3, was coming around the cargo ship's stern to reach her port side. As she did so, Bunker Hill started her starboard engine. The propeller struck the tugboat's port side, holing its hull, and sinking it. There were no casualties.
Passenger ship In 1911 the Maine Steamship Company acquired Massachusetts, Bunker Hill, and Old Colony, and registered them in Portland, Maine. It contracted the Quintard Iron Works to refit them as passenger ships, at a cost of $500,000 each. On each ship, Quintard built up the forecastle, extended the superstructure aft, and added another deck the full length of the superstructure. According to reports in 1911, Quintard had designed the ships to be enlarged in this way. The new accommodation included 225 passenger cabins; a dining saloon in the forward part; a grill room; a "social hall" that was also a smoking room and café; and a hurricane deck with an observation room. For freight, there were four elevators that linked the main deck with the hold below. Each ship had a double hull, divided by six watertight bulkheads. The Maine SS Co named its Boston – New York service "The Boston Line". The refit increased their gross register tonnage; in Bunker Hills case from to . Conversion to passenger service increased her crew from 38 officers and men to 167.
Collision with Massachusetts
By June 1912 the Eastern Steamship Corporation had acquired the three ships, and registered them in Boston. Eastern kept the ships on the Boston – New York route, which it called the "Metropolitan Line". At 01:30 hrs on 7 July that year, Massachusetts accidentally rammed Bunker Hill in fog off Point Judith, Rhode Island. Massachusetts was going dead slow, and heard Bunker Hill give a fog signal on her steam whistle. Both ships stopped engines, but too late to prevent a collision. The impact made a hole wide and high in Bunker Hills side, and slightly dented Massachusetts bow, but both ships remained afloat. Two of Bunker Hills passengers suffered cuts and bruises. Massachusetts continued her voyage to New York. Bunker Hill continued her voyage to Boston; disembarked her passengers; and then headed for Erie Basin, Brooklyn to be repaired.
By 1913, Bunker Hills wireless call sign was KJB.
Collision with Vanadis
On 13 June 1915, C. K. G. Billings' steam yacht accidentally rammed Bunker Hill in dense fog off Eaton's Neck in Long Island Sound. Bunker Hill was on her scheduled run from New York to Boston, carrying about 250 passengers and 130 crew. Vanadis had sailed from Glen Cove, where the Billings had a home. Both ships were going slowly due to the fog. At about 19:15 hrs Vanadis sighted Bunker Hill ahead, and immediately reversed her engines, but too late to overcome her momentum and prevent a collision.
The yacht hit the passenger steamer's port side. Her bowsprit went through the ceiling of Bunker Hills dining saloon, where about 70 passengers were dining. It pierced the deck above, wrecking about 20 passenger cabins. Most of the passengers who had booked cabins had not yet retired to them, and thus escaped injury. One passenger was in his cabin, and was severely injured. He was rescued from his cabin, but died at about 20:15 hrs. One member of Bunker Hills crew was injured and fell overboard. Four other passengers were injured. One of these had chest injuries and a broken leg, and was hospitalized. Passengers reported that Vanadis fell back, and then thrust into Bunker Hill a second time.
The passenger ship lowered two lifeboats. The crew of one of these rescued the injured crewman who had fallen overboard. Both of his legs were broken; he had a head injury; and he had been in the water for about ten minutes. He was taken aboard Vanadis, and put in Mr Billings' cabin, but died about an hour later. The yacht lost her bowsprit and much of her rigging; her bow was crumpled; and her foredeck was littered with débris from the passenger ship. However, neither ship was damaged below the waterline, and both remained afloat. Bunker Hill returned to New York, and Vanadis returned to Glen Cove.
Minelayer The US Navy inspected Bunker Hill on 2 November 1917, and acquired her on 12 November for $1,350,000. In the First World War the US Navy had a policy of naming auxiliary ships after Native American peoples. On 15 November Bunker Hill was renamed Aroostook, after a band of the Mi'kmaq Nation, and given the Naval Registry Identification Number ID-1256. On 7 December she was commissioned at Boston Navy Yard, commanded by Commander James H Tomb.
Aroostooks wooden passenger superstructure was removed, and she was converted into a minelayer. She was defensively armed with one 5-inch/51-caliber gun, two 3-inch/23-caliber dual-purpose guns, and two .30 caliber Colt machine guns. Her complement was 313 officers and enlisted men. She made a shakedown cruise in Massachusetts Bay from 6 to 10 June 1918, and then loaded mines in Boston.
The Navy had also acquired Massachusetts, converted her into a minelayer, and commissioned her as USS Shawmut. In naval sea trials off Provincetown, Massachusetts, Aroostook and Shawmut had shown higher fuel consumption than the Navy expected. The Navy therefore arranged for them to be refueled at sea. On 11 June Aroostook joined Shawmut, the minelayer , and the tender Black Hawk off Cape Cod, and the next day the four ships sailed for Europe. Black Hawk bunkered both Aroostook and Shawmut with fuel oil en route.
On 28 June 1918 Aroostook reached Cromarty Firth in Scotland. She was attached to Mine Squadron 1, which took part in laying the North Sea Mine Barrage. Aroostook laid a total of 3,180 mines: planted 320 mines during the 3rd minelaying excursion on 14 July, planted 320 mines during the 4th minelaying excursion on 29 July, planted 290 mines during the 5th minelaying excursion on 8 August, planted 330 mines during the 6th minelaying excursion on 18 August, planted 310 mines during the 7th minelaying excursion on 26 August, planted 290 mines on 30 August to complete the 7th minefield after Saranac was unable to lay her mines, planted 320 mines during the 9th minelaying excursion on 20 September, planted 330 mines during the 10th minelaying excursion on 27 September, planted 330 mines during the 11th minelaying excursion on 4 October, and planted 340 mines during the final 13th minelaying excursion on 24 October.
The barrage was never completed, as the Armistice of 11 November 1918 ended the war. On 14 December 1918 Aroostook and Shawmut left Portland in England, and two days after Christmas they reached Hampton Roads. The next day, Aroostook unloaded her remaining mines onto barges in the York River. She remained in the Hampton Roads area, transferring mines, and taking mines from the minelayer to the Mine Depot at Yorktown, Virginia.
Aircraft tender First transatlantic flight
In the spring of 1919, the Navy sought to make the first Transatlantic flight. The Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company built four flying boats for the purpose, the Curtiss NC, which were the largest biplanes yet built. Their route was to be from New York to Lisbon, with refueling and rest stops at Newfoundland and the Azores.