Hatteras II Str

Hatteras II

(Str: dp. 10,503 1. 377'; b. 5°' dr. 2S'10"; B. 10 k.)

The second Hatteras was built in 1917 for the Cunard Line by the Bethlehem Shipping Corp. of Sparrow's Point Md. Acquired by the Navy for the war effort, she commissioned 23 October 1917, Lt. Comdr. W. K. Martin in command.

After loading cargo, mainly iron, in Maryland, Hatteras joined a convoy at Norfolk and sailed for France on 26 January 1918. On 4 February the convoy ran into a severe North Atlantic storm, and Hatteras' steering gear broke down completely. The disabled ship headed back to Boston using a jury-rigged steering system arriving 11 days later. On 6 March she sailed again for France via Halifax, but 11 days later ran into another severe storm, and, once again, broken ~steering gear forced her to turn back to Boston.

On 9 April Hatteras sailed for France for the third time, this time through relatively calm seas, and arrived in Nantes on the 30th. Cargo successfully discharged, she returned to Baltimore on 23 May. Thereafter she made four more Atlantic crossings, one to Nantes and three to Bordeaux, finally returning to New York 19 March 1919. Hatteras decommissioned there on 8 April 1919 and the same day was returned to the USSB, which retained her until she was abandoned in 1938.