USS Supply, a 4325 ton (displacement) passenger and cargo ship, was completed at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1874 as the commercial steamship Illinois. She was purchased by the Navy in late April 1898 for service in the Spanish-American War. In early May the name Supply was assigned to the "beef and ice boat" Illinois, and the ship's first log begins on 9 July 1898, at which time she was assigned to the North Atlantic Fleet. After supporting the fleet as a supply ship in Cuban waters, Supply was decommissioned at the New York Navy Yard in April 1899. The former "small liner" was then refitted with what a later Commanding Officer called "unusually commodious and comfortable quarters" for her crew. Recommissioned in August 1902, she was sent to the Asiatic Station.
Between 1902 and 1917 Supply served as station ship at Guam, from where she made periodic extended voyages as supply ship for the Asiatic Fleet. The ship returned to the United States for overhauls at the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, in 1912 and in 1915-1916. Following the U.S. declaration of war against Germany in April 1917 she rescued the crew of the German auxiliary cruiser Cormoran when they blew up their interned ship at Guam rather than surrender it. Supply departed Guam in November 1917 and, after arriving at Charleston, South Carolina, in January 1918, was designated Flagship, Train, Atlantic Fleet. In May 1919 she was ordered back to Guam as station ship, but upon her arrival on the West Coast was directed to the Mare Island, California, Navy Yard for repairs. Supply decommissioned there in September 1919 and was sold for scrapping in September 1921.
This page features all the views we have concerning USS Supply (1898-1921) and S.S. Illinois of 1874.
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USS Supply is seen in the background of the following view of another ship:
Photo #: 19-N-14-19-10 USS Cushing (Torpedo Boat # 1) Photographed in November 1900 at the New York Navy Yard. The decommissioned supply ship USS Supply (1898-1921) is in the background. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 107KB; 630 x 765 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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NOTES:
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 30 April 2008
New image added 28 February 2009