USS Julia Luckenbach (ID-2407)

USS Julia Luckenbach (ID-1662) was a cargo ship and troop transport that served in the United States Navy from 1918 to 1919.

SS Julia Luckenbach while under U.S. Army charter in 1917 or 1918, prior to her U.S. Navy service.

USS Julia Luckenbach in 1919.
History
United States
Name:	USS Julia Luckenbach
Namesake:	Previous name retained
Builder:	Fore River Shipbuilding Corporation, Quincy, Massachusetts
Completed:	1917
Acquired:	7 August 1918
Commissioned:	15 August 1918
Decommissioned:	9 September 1919
Fate:	Returned to owners 9 September 1919 Became "constructive total loss" while in commercial service September 1943
Notes:	Served as commercial cargo ship SS Julia Luckenbach 1917-1918 and 1919-1943
General characteristics
Type:	Cargo ship and troop transport
Tonnage:	8,151 Gross register tons
Displacement:	16,533 tons
Length:	456 ft 6 in (139.14 m)
Beam:	57 ft 2 in (17.42 m)
Draft:	31 ft 6 in (9.60 m)
Propulsion:	Steam engine
Speed:	14 knots
Complement:	70
Armament:	1 × 4-inch (102-millimeter) gun 1 × 3-inch (76.2-millimeter) gun

SS Julia Luckenbach was built as a commercial cargo ship in 1917 at Quincy, Massachusetts, by Fore River Shipbuilding Corporation for Luckenbach Steamship Company of New York City. For about a year in 1917 and 1918, she operated under charter to the United States Army. The U.S. Navy acquired her for World War I service on 7 August 1918. Assigned Identification Number (Id. No.) 2407, she was commissioned on 15 August 1918 as USS Julia Luckenbach with Lieutenant Commander George C. Benner, USNRF, in command.

Assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service, Julia Luckenbach departed New York City on 10 September 1918 with cargo for U.S. military forces in Europe, arriving at Marseilles, France, on 24 September 1918.

After the Armistice with Germany was signed on 11 November 1918, bringing World War I to an end, Julia Luckenbach was transferred to the Cruiser and Transport Force. In her new postwar role as a troop transport, she continued to transport cargo to France while returning to the United States with troops, patients, and other military personnel coming home after the war.

Julia Luckenbach arrived in New York at the end of her final cruise in U.S. Navy service in July 1919 and remained there until she decommissioned on 9 September 1919. She was returned to Luckenbach Steamship Company the same day.

Once again SS Julia Luckenbach, she resumed commercial service as a cargo ship, continuing in this role until September 1943 when, during World War II, she was badly damaged and declared a "constructive total loss."

References

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• Department of the Navy: Naval Historical Center Online Library of Selected Images: Civilian Ships: S.S. Julia Luckenbach (American Freighter, 1917). Served as USS Julia Luckenbach (ID # 2407) in 1918-1919
• NavSource Online: Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive: Julia Luckenbach (ID 2407)