USS Wilhelmina (ID-2168) was a transport for the United States Navy during World War I. Built in 1909 for Matson Navigation Company as SS Wilhelmina, she sailed from the West Coast of the United States to Hawaii until 1917. After her war service, she was returned to Matson and resumed Pacific Ocean service. In the late 1930s she was laid up in San Francisco, California, until sold to a British shipping company in 1940. While a part of a convoy sailing from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Liverpool, she was sunk by on 2 December 1940.
Early history
Wilhelmina—a steel-hulled, single-screw, passenger and cargo steamer built at Newport News, Virginia, by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co. for the Matson Navigation Company—was launched on 18 September 1909 and departed her builders' yard on 7 December of that year. Under the Matson flag, Wilhelmina conducted regular runs between San Francisco, California, and Honolulu, Hawaii, carrying passengers and cargo between 1910 and 1917. SS Wilhelmina is referenced in a book called From Job to Job Around the World, written by Alfred C.B. Fletcher. Gutenburg EBook #55336.
World War I
Inspected by the Navy at the 12th Naval District, San Francisco, on 18 June 1917—two months after the United States entered World War I—the steamship was later taken over by the United States Shipping Board on 1 December. Soon afterwards she sailed for Chile where she obtained a cargo of nitrates. Delivering that cargo at Norfolk, Virginia., Wilhelmina shifted to New York on 23 January 1918. Given Identification Number 2168, the ship was then taken over by the Navy and apparently commissioned on 26 January. Wilhelmina was diverted to "special duty" and made her first voyage to France soon afterwards, departing New York with a general cargo on 1 February and returning on 26 March. Upon her return, she shifted to the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York, where she was taken in hand and converted to a troopship for service with the Cruiser and Transport Force. When her extant deck logs begin, her commanding officer is listed as Commander William T. Tarrant.
On 10 May 1918, Wilhelmina sailed out of New York on the first of six wartime voyages to France and back prior to the 11 November 1918 armistice. During these passages, Wilhelmina carried 11,053 troops to France to strengthen the American Expeditionary Force (AEF). The transport's half-dozen trips were all made safely as far as she was concerned, although not totally without incident.
While in convoy with six other troopships and four destroyers, Wilhelmina was present when the transport was torpedoed on 1 July 1918. Nearly a month later, on 30 July 1918, one of Wilhelminas lookouts spotted what he thought to be a submarine periscope at 07:30. Going to general quarters, the transport surged ahead and opened fire to drive the submarine away. A short while later, when the periscope reappeared, Wilhelmina again fired at it, with the shell falling 50 yards (46 meters) short.
Two weeks later, while Wilhelmina and were steaming under the protection of the destroyer , the erstwhile Matson steamship again went to general quarters to drive away what looked like a submarine. Shortly after 20:00 on 14 August, while Wilhelmina'''s crew and passengers were holding an abandon-ship drill, a lookout spotted what looked like a submarine periscope 200 yards (183 meters) from the ship and just forward of the port beam. The captain of the transport ordered her helm put over to starboard soon after the sighting, as the submarine moved away on an opposite course. The one-pounder on the port wing of the signal bridge barked out two shots, both missing. Three shots from the after port 6-inch (152-mm) gun followed, until their angle was masked by the ship's superstructure. The submarine, however, apparently frustrated, submerged. It may have remained in the area to try again, as on the following day, 15 August, a submarine periscope appeared some 200 yards (183 meters) away from the troopship, prompting three salvoes which drove the would-be attacker off.
In company with seven other transports—including Wilhelmina—on 23 August, in a convoy escorted by the armored cruiser and the destroyers and Hull, Pastores spotted what she took to be a submarine periscope at about 09:50. Hull rang up full speed and reversed course; Huntington and Fairfax soon did likewise but found nothing.