Satsuma SP-2038

Satsuma
(SP-2038: dp. 10,150, 1. 380'3", b. 48'6", dr. 26'4"dph. 28'11"; s. 10 k.; cpl. 70; a. 1 4", 1 6-pdr.)

Satsuma (SP-2038) was built during 1901 by Short Brothers Ltd., Sunderland, England, as a single-screw freighter for a British firm, transferred to United States registry in 1914; acquired by the United States Shipping Board from the New York and Oriental Steam Ship Co. of New York to move Army cargo to Europe, delivered to the Navy at New York on 1 October 1918, and commissioned the same day, Lt. Comdr. George A. Saunders, USNRF, in command.

Assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS) upon commissioning, Satsuma departed from New York on 12 October 1918 for Newport News to load cargo for French ports. Returning to New York in convoy, she continued on to St. Nazaire and Brest, France, with a cargo of horses, grain, and general cargo. Satsuma returned to New York on 23 December 1918 where she was detached from NOTS on 3 January 1919. Satsuma was simultaneously decommissioned, transferred to the Shipping Board, and returned to her owner on 31 January 1919 at Brooklyn, N.Y.