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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060
Photo # NH 85263:  USAT George Washington in port, circa 1943-1945

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- SHIPS of the UNITED STATES ARMY --

USAT George Washington (Transport, 1919-1921 and 1943-1947)
Briefly USS Catlin (AP-19), 1941

The U.S. Army Transport George Washington (of 23,788 gross tons) was launched in 1908 at Stettin, Germay, as the German commerical passenger ship George Washington. From 1917 until November 1919 she served as USS George Washington (ID # 3018) and for more than a year afterwards was operated by the Army. In 1921 the ship began commercial service under the U.S. flag. She was active for about a decade before being laid up in the Patuxent River, Maryland.

The World War II crisis brought her back into operation in March 1941 as USS Catlin (AP-19), but her second round of Navy service was short, as her coal-fired boilers and old machinery made her too slow. In September she was leased to the British, who used her briefly as S.S. George Washington before determining she was unsuitable for their needs. Returned to American custody in April 1942, the ship made a voyage to Panama, then began conversion to an oil-burning powerplant.

When this work, in which a single smokestack replaced her original two, was completed in April 1943, George Washington became part of the Army's fleet of troop transports. During the remainder of that year she made a round-trip voyage to Morocco, steamed from the West Coast to Australia and back, and, between September and December, travelled westbound from California to New York, calling at Bombay, India, Capetown, South Africa, Trinidad and Puerto Rico while en route. For three years, beginning early in 1944, USAT George Washington was employed on trans-Atlantic service between the U.S. East Coast and ports in Great Britain and France. She was turned over to the U.S. Maritime Commission in April 1947 and laid up at Baltimore, Maryland. Damaged by fire in January 1951, George Washington was sold for scrapping a month later.

This page features all the views we have concerning the U.S. Army Transport George Washington and USS Catlin (AP-19).

For additional views related to this ship, taken prior to her U.S. Army service, see:

  • USS George Washington (ID # 3018).


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: NH 103180

    USAT George Washington
    (U.S. Army Transport, formerly USS George Washington (ID # 3018))

    At the Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, Massachusetts, in May 1920.
    This image is made up of three individual photographs, joined to form a panoramic view of the entire ship.
    Two U.S. Navy destroyers are partially visible in the left foreground.

    Collection of Christopher H.W. Lloyd. Donated by Virginia Agostini, 1990.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 105KB; 1200 x 310 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 103187

    USAT George Washington
    (U.S. Army Transport, formerly USS George Washington (ID # 3018))

    At the Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, Massachusetts, in 1920.

    Collection of Christopher H.W. Lloyd. Donated by Virginia Agostini, 1990.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 67KB; 540 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 105644

    USS Catlin
    (AP-19)

    The former S.S. and USS George Washington at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in a photo dated 17 March 1941, just after being delivered from the Maritime Commission Reserve Fleet at no cost to the Navy for use as a Navy transport. She had been commissioned as USS Catlin (AP-19) a few days previously but was found unsuitable for Navy use and was decommissioned in September 1941. After reconstruction with one smokestack she served as the Army transport USAT George Washington.

    Donation of Captain Stephen S. Roberts, USNR (Retired), 2008.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 78KB; 740 x 590 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 85263

    USAT George Washington
    (U.S. Army Transport)

    Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken circa 1943-1945.
    Built in 1908 as the German passenger liner George Washington, this ship served as USS George Washington (ID # 3018) in 1917-1919 and as USS Catlin (AP-19) in 1941. She was refitted with new oil-fired boilers and a single smokestack, as seen here, in 1942-1943.

    Copied from the book "Troopships of World War II", by Roland W. Charles.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 59KB; 740 x 390 pixels

     


    For additional views related to this ship, taken prior to her U.S. Army service, see:

  • USS George Washington (ID # 3018).


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 18 December 2005
    New image added 8 May 2008