USS America (ID-3006)

As Amerika, before the First World War
History
Germany
Name	Amerika
Namesake	German spelling of America
Owner	Hamburg America Line
Builder	Harland & Wolff, Belfast
Yard number	357
Launched	20 April 1905
Completed	21 September 1905
In service	11 October 1905
Out of service	1 August 1914
Fate	Seized by United States, April 1917
History
United States
Name	USS America (ID-3006)
Owner	United States Navy
Acquired	25 July 1917
Commissioned	6 August 1917
Decommissioned	26 September 1919
Fate	Transferred to War Department, 26 September 1919
History
United States
Name	USAT America
Operator	United States Army
Acquired	26 September 1919
In service	26 September 1919
Out of service	1920
Fate	Transferred to the USSB
History
United States Lines
Name	SS America
Owner	USSB
Operator	United States Mail Steamship United States Lines
In service	1920
Out of service	1931
Fate	Transferred to the War Department
History
United States
Name	USAT Edmund B. Alexander
Namesake	Edmund Brooke Alexander
Owner	United States Army
Acquired	October 1940
In service	January 1941
Out of service	26 May 1949
Refit	May 1942
Fate	Scrapped 16 January 1957
General characteristics
Tonnage	22,622 GRT, 13,637 NRT[1]
Length	669 ft (204 m)
Beam	74.3 ft (22.6 m)
Propulsion	2 steam engines, twin screw propellers
Speed	18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Capacity	2,508 passengers as follows: 386 first class 150 second class 222 third class 1,750 fourth class
Crew	577
Differences as USS America:
Displacement	41,500 Tons
Length	687 ft (209 m)
Beam	75 ft 5 in (22.99 m)
Draft	39 ft 5.25 in (12.0206 m)
Speed	17.5 knots (32 km/h; 20 mph)
Complement	994
Armament	4 × 6" 2 × 1-pounders 2 × .30 caliber Colt machine gun 1 × .30 caliber Lewis machine gun 9 × depth charge

USS America (ID-3006) was a troop transport for the United States Navy in World War I. She was launched in 1905 as Amerika by Harland & Wolff in Belfast for the Hamburg America Line of Germany. As a passenger liner, she sailed primarily between Hamburg and New York. On 14 April 1912, Amerika transmitted a wireless message about icebergs near the same area where RMS Titanic struck one and sank less than three hours later. At the outset of the war, Amerika was docked at Boston; rather than risk seizure by the British Royal Navy, she remained in port for the next three years.

Hours before the American entry into World War I, Amerika was seized and placed under control of the United States Shipping Board (USSB). Later transferred to the U.S. Navy for use as a troop transport, she was initially commissioned as USS Amerika with Naval Registry Identification Number 3006 (ID-3006), but her name was soon Anglicized to America. As America she transported almost 40,000 troops to France. She sank at her mooring in Hoboken in 1918, but was soon raised and reconditioned. After the Armistice, America transported more than 51,000 troops back home from Europe. In 1919, she was handed over to the War Department for use by the United States Army as USAT America, under whose control she remained until 1920.

Returned to the USSB in 1920, America was initially assigned to the United States Mail Steamship Company, and later, after that company's demise, to United States Lines, for which she plied the North Atlantic on Bremen to New York routes. In March 1926, due to an oil leak from inside the ship, near the end of one of her periodic refits, America suffered a fire that raged for seven hours and burned nearly all of her passenger cabins. Despite almost $2,000,000 in damage, the ship was rebuilt and back in service by the following year. In April 1931, America ended her service for the United States Lines and was laid up for almost nine years.

In October 1940, America was reactivated for the U.S. Army and renamed USAT Edmund B. Alexander. After establishing the Newfoundland Base Command and a stint as a barracks ship at St. John's, Newfoundland in January–May 1941, Edmund B. Alexander was refitted for use as a troopship for World War II duty. She was first placed on a New Orleans to Panama route, but later transferred to trooping between New York and European ports. At the end of the war, Edmund B. Alexander was converted to carry military dependents, remaining in that service until 1949. She was placed in reserve until sold for scrapping in January 1957.