The steamship Mobile was steel-hulled freighter built for the Atlantic Transport Line in 1891. She carried live cattle and frozen beef from the United States to England until the advent of the Spanish-American War. In 1898 she was purchased by the United States Army for use as an ocean-going troopship. During the Spanish-American War she carried troops and supplies between the U.S. mainland, Cuba, and Puerto Rico.
After the war, she was renamed USAT Sherman and was fitted for service in the Pacific, supporting U.S. bases in Hawaii, Guam, and the Philippines. In addition to her regular supply missions, she transported American troops to several conflicts in the Pacific, including the Philippine Insurrection, Boxer Rebellion, the 1911 Revolution in China, and the Siberian Intervention of World War I. Her last sailing in government service was in June 1922.
The ship was sold to the Los Angeles Steamship Company which renamed her Calawaii. She ran freight and passengers between Los Angeles and Hawaii from 1923 to 1932. The ship was scrapped in Japan in 1933.
Construction and characteristics The Atlantic Transport Line commissioned four sisterships to be built by the Harland and Wolff Shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland. They were, in order of launch, Massachusetts, Manitoba, Mohawk, and Mobile.
Mobile's hull was built of steel plates. She was long, with a beam of and a depth of hold of . Her gross register tonnage was 5,283, and her net register tonnage was 3,725. She displaced 7,271 tons.
She was driven by two manganese-bronze propellers. These were turned by two triple-expansion steam engines which were also built by Harland and Wolff. They had high, medium, and low-pressure cylinders with diameters of 22.5 inches, 36.5 inches, and 60 inches, respectively, with a stroke of 48 inches. Each of the engines was rated at 600 horsepower. Steam was provided by two coal-fired boilers. At full speed she would burn 60 tons of coal per day.
Mobile's cargo capacity was built primarily to support the shipment of American beef to England, both in the form of live cattle and refrigerated dressed beef. She was fitted out to transport 1,000 live cattle, and could carry 1,000 tons of fresh meat in her refrigerated holds. She was also fitted with a salon and first-class cabins for 60 passengers.
Mobile was launched from the Harland and Wolff shipyard on Queen's Island on 17 November 1892. She then had her engines and boilers installed. The ship was completed on 27 July 1893.
Atlantic Transport Line Service (18921898) While the Atlantic Transport Line was controlled by American shipping magnate Bernard N. Baker, its operations were run from Britain. Mobile's home port was London and she was registered as a British ship. During her six-year career with Atlantic Transport Line she was assigned to the New York to London route. Mobile completed her maiden voyage to New York on 6 August 1893.
Mobile regularly shipped cattle to Britain, as she was designed to do. Since facilities for transporting cattle also supported other livestock, Mobile occasionally shipped horses, and even deer across the Atlantic.
US Army Service (18981922)
SpanishAmerican War service (18981899)
On 25 April 1898, Congress declared war on Spain, beginning the Spanish-American War. An immediate objective was to defeat Spain in the Caribbean, taking Cuba and Puerto Rico. At the time, the United States had few overseas possessions, and thus its military had limited ocean-capable sealift to support such an offensive. American political leaders preferred to acquire American ships to support the war effort, rather than enrich foreigners and rely on foreign crews. There were also legal constraints on using neutral-flagged vessels in American military operations. Through some quirks in the Congressional funding of the war, the US Navy was able to charter transport ships prior to the declaration of war and tied-up the best of the American merchant fleet for its use. When the Army was able to begin acquiring ships after the declaration of war, fewer domestic options remained. While the Atlantic Transport Line was British-flagged, it was American owned, making it a more attractive option.
Army Colonel Frank J. Hecker approached the Atlantic Transport Line to charter its fleet, and was refused. He then offered to buy the vessels he sought and a deal was struck, subject to the approval of the Secretary of War Russel Alger. In addition to Mobile, the Atlantic Transport Line sold Manitoba, Mohawk, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, and Minnewaska. These ships were placed under the Quartermaster's Department of the United States Army. The Army reckoned Mobile's capacity to be 80 officers, 1,000 men, and 1,000 horses. Mobile arrived in New York from London on her last trip for the Atlantic Transport Line on 5 July 1898. She was turned over to the Army as soon as she was unloaded. The purchase price of the ship was $660,000.
Mobile underwent little conversion for military use. She sailed from New York on 14 July 1898, just a week after her purchase, for Charleston, South Carolina, where she arrived on 18 July 1898. There she embarked troops for Puerto Rico, but by then the fighting was all but over. Hostilities ceased on 12 August 1898. Her return to the mainland after her first trip to the Caribbean was widely criticized in the press for significant overcrowding, spoiled food, and lack of care for the sick and wounded. Perhaps the bad press stung, for Mobile did not sail again until she was overhauled at the William Cramps and Sons shipyard in Philadelphia and personally inspected by Secretary of War Alger.
Even though the war was over, the Army faced substantial logistical challenges in the Caribbean. It had to garrison the new possessions, and return the men temporarily mobilized for the offensive. Mobile moved thousands of troops and animals to and from Cuba and Puerto Rico. +Mobile troop movements to and from the CaribbeanDepartureFromToArrivalUnits embarked20 July 1898CharlestonPonce2 companies, 6th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment 16th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment13 August 1898SantiagoMontauk, New York18 August 18982nd Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment 8th Infantry Regiment
22nd Infantry Regiment13 December 1898SavannahHavana15 December 1898161st Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment 3rd battalion, 2nd Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment
1 company, 4th Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment25 December 1898SavannahHavana28 December 18982 battalions, 1st Texas Volunteer Infantry Regiment 2nd Louisiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment3 January 1899SavannahHavana6 January 18994th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment 9th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment7 January 1899HavanaNew York11 January 1899
Preparation for Pacific service (1899) Having taken Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines, the Army had a permanent need for transport to overseas bases. The annexation of Hawaii in 1898 also required new ocean transport. The Army Transport Service chose the best vessels acquired during the war to become a permanent sealift capability. Mobile and her three sister ships were retained for this purpose. To mark their transition to permanent military service, they were renamed in January 1899. Mobile became United States Army Transport Sherman, named for Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman.
On 3 February 1899, Sherman sailed from New York, bound for Manila, via the Suez Canal. She had a full load of 34 officers and 1,702 men, including the 3rd Infantry Regiment and the 2nd battalion of the 17th Infantry Regiment. She stopped at Gibralter for coal on 15 February 1899. Sherman reached Port Said on 24 February 1899, Aden by 2 March, Singapore on 16 March, and finally arrived in Manila on 22 March 1899.After disembarking her troops and unloading her cargo in Manila, she sailed to San Francisco on 3 April 1899. Sherman carried about 100 wounded soldiers and Brigadier General Harrison Gray Otis, who had commanded a brigade of Army troops against the insurgent Philippine forces. She arrived at her new home port, via coaling stops at Nagasaki and Yokohama, on 29 April 1899.
As originally configured for her Pacific service, Sherman's capacity was 69 officers, 1,750 men, and 2,400 tons of cargo. After her shipyard modifications in 1901, her capacity was reckoned at 112 officers, 1,776 men, and 1,810 tons of cargo. Her authorized complement was 13 officers and 172 crew. As she sailed, her crew was typically between 175 and 200 officers and men. Just over 30 of the crew were waiters who were typically tipped by the first-class cabin passengers.
Philippine Insurrection and Boxer Rebellion (18991900) There was an urgent need for troops and supplies in the Philippines to prosecute American aims in the Philippine-American War. Sherman sailed continuously during the critical portion of the conflict to deliver troops and supplies to Manila. Adding urgency to moving troops and supplies to Asia was the United States involvement in the Boxer Rebellion in China in 1900. Details of Sherman's trans-Pacific trips during this period are shown in the table below.
+Sherman's trans-Pacific trips 1899-1900DepartureFromToArrivalUnits Embarked23 May 1899San FranciscoManila19 June 18996th Infantry Regiment26 July 1899ManilaSan Francisco24 August 18991st California Volunteer Infantry Regiment (48 officers, 950 men) 2 batteries, California Heavy Artillery (9 officers, 286 men)
275 discharged troops 23 September 1899San FranciscoManila22 October 189930th Infantry Regiment 350 recruits for other regiments4 November 1899ManilaSan Francisco25 November 1899194 discharged and sick troops6 December 1899San FranciscoManila2 January 19003rd Battalion, 49th Volunteer Infantry Regiment 160 recruitsManilaSan Francisco7 February 190086 sick troops18 February 1900San FranciscoManila14 March 1900352 troops of various units1 April 1900ManilaSan Francisco26 April 19001 battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment1 June 1900San FranciscoManila28 June 1900500 recruits16 July 1900ManilaSan Francisco6 August 1900180 discharged and sick troops21 August 1900San FranciscoManila2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment 1 battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment
1 battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment23 September 1900ManilaSan Francisco18 October 190051dead, 477 sick, 294 discharged troops 71 prisoners1 November 1900San FranciscoManila29 November 1900292 officers and troops, 64 civilians 4,000 tons of supplies
Pacific service (19011918)
On 7 January 1901 Sherman was taken out of commission for maintenance. An initial contract for $335,497.50 was signed with the Union Iron Works shipyard in San Francisco, and a $33,244 contract for additional work was added later. Work on the ship stopped when the machinists' union struck in May 1901. She languished in port, but when the strike was settled, her decks were rebuilt, the number of staterooms was increased, her medical facilities were improved, lavoratories expanded, and a new ice house was built . Her first sailing after the overhaul left from San Francisco in April 1902.
Sherman began a regular shuttle service between San Francisco, Honolulu, Guam, and Manila. The Army Transport Service maintained a roughly monthly schedule of sailings from San Francisco using Sherman, USAT Logan, USAT Sheridan, and USAT Thomas. The ships carried supplies, cash, mail, and fresh troops to the Philippines, and relieved, discharged, wounded, and dead troops back to the United States. During fiscal year 1903, for example, Sherman made three round trips through the Pacific. On her departures from San Francisco Sherman carried a total of 185 officers, 3,021 soldiers, and 244 civilians, many of them family members of the officers. On her return voyages she had aboard 182 officers, 3,093 soldiers, and 347 civilians. In addition to Army personnel, the ship also routinely transported U.S. Marines Corps, and U.S. Navy personnel.