West Avenal

West Avenal

(Freighter: dp. 12,200; 1. 427'0"; b. 54'0"; dph. 29'9";
dr. 23'6" (mean); s. 10.5 k.; cpl. 70; a. none)

West Avenal—a single-screw, steel-hulled freighter built in 1918 under a United States Shipping Board contract at San Francisco, Calif., by the Western Steel and Pipe Co.—was taken over by the Navy on 1 February 1919; designated Id. No. 3871; and commissioned the same day at San Francisco, Lt. Comdr. Franz Patterson, USNRF, in command.

West Avenal conducted one voyage for the Naval Overseas Transportation Service. She departed San Francisco on 17 February 1919 with a cargo of flourtransited the Panama Canal, and arrived at Norfolk, VA., on 4 April. The next day, the ship was placed out of commission and returned to the Shipping Board, in whose custody she remained until abandoned in late 1928.