Major Wheeler Str

Major Wheeler

(Str: dp. 7,020,; 1. 319'911; b. 46'; dr. 22'2"; s. 10.5 k.;
cpl. 70; a. 2 4")

Major Wheeler was launched by Hanlon Drydock & Shipbuilding Co., Oakland, Calif., 4 July 1918; acquired by the Navy from USSB 30 September 1918; and commissioned 8 October 1918.

The new freighter departed San Pedro, Calif., 3 November 1918 for Callao, Peru, where she exchanged a general cargo for nitrates needed for manufacturing munitions. Steaming via Arica, Chile, and Cape Horn she arrived Charleston, S.C., 26 December. She departed New York 15 February 1919 and arrived, via Trinidad, at Santos, Brazil, 16 March. After calls along the Brazilian coast she returned to New York 9 May. Major Wheeler decommissioned there 19 May 1919 and returned to USSB. In 1922 she was sold to Baltimore, SS Co.