Westpool

Westpool

(Freighter: dp. 12,170; 1. 410'51/4"; b. 54'0"; dph. 29'9";
dr. 24'1" (mean); s. 11.5 k.; cpl. 103; a. none)

Westpool—sometimes referred to as West Pool—was a steel-hulled, single screw freighter built under a United States Shipping Board (USSB) contract. She was completed in 1918 at Seattle, Wash., by J. F. Duthie and Co.; was inspected by the Navy, given the Id. No. 3676; was acquired by the Navy on 2 November 1918 and was commissioned the same day, Lt. Comdr. W. H. Harstedt, USNRF, in command.

Departing Puget Sound on 8 November, Westpool subsequently loaded cargo in the Canal Zone for the Panama Railroad Co. before resuming her voyage to New York City on 9 December, less than a month after the armistice ended World War I. After arriving there on the 20th, she delivered her cargo before loading 5,002 tons of Army cargo. Departing New York City on 1 February 1919, Westpool sailed for European waters.

Upon her arrival at Antwerp, Belgium, on 18 February, the freighter discharged part of her cargo there before shifting to Swansea, Wales, late in February to unload the remainder. Having completed this task between 1 and 5 March, Westpool departed the British Isles on 5 March and headed for the United States. Westpool put into New York harbor on 23 March and was decommissioned there eight days later, on 31 March 1919. Simultaneously struck from the Navy list and returned to the USSB, Westpool subsequently remained under government ownership, in and out of active service through the 1930's

Acquired by the British government to alleviate shipping shortages caused by German U-boats preying on transatlantic convoys, Westpool was eventually torpedoed and sunk by U-74 on 3 April 1941, while with Convoy SC-26.