West Gotomska (Id. No. 3322)
1918-1919
The Navy retained the name carried by this vessel at the time of her acquisition.
(Id. No. 3322: displacement 12,225; length 423'9"; beam 54'0”; depth of hold 29'9"; draft 24'1" (mean); speed 11.0 knots; complement 70; armament 1 5-inch, 1 3-inch)
West Gotomska, a steel-hulled, single-screw freighter built under a United States Shipping Board contract at Seattle, Wash., by the Skinner & Eddy Corp., was launched on 17 July 1918; taken over by the Navy for use by the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS); assigned the Identification Number (Id. No.) 3322; and commissioned at Seattle on 7 August 1918, Lt. Cmdr. Charles J. O'Brien, USNRF, in command.
West Gotomska got underway on 17 August 1918 for Arica, Chile, and, upon arrival, loaded a full cargo of guano for shipment via the Panama Canal to New Orleans, La. Making port at New Orleans on 11 October, West Gotomska discharged her cargo of nitrates and loaded a full cargo of Army supplies earmarked for American troops.
She sailed for France on 10 November 1918 and arrived at Quiberon Bay on the 25th. After unloading, she headed back to the United States with 2,100 tons of Army return cargo four days before Christmas of 1918.
Following her arrival at Norfolk, Va., on 6 January 1919, West Gotomska unloaded and took on board 5,182 tons of fuel oil and sailed on the 25th for La Pallice, France. Following this voyage, the freighter conducted a second run to La Pallice with Army cargo before returning, via the Azores and Philadelphia, to Hampton Roads, Va.
Decommissioned and stricken from the Navy Register on 6 June 1919, West Gotomska operated out of Seattle, under the aegis of the Shipping Board, into the 1920's and 1930's. On 15 August 1941, West Gotomska was transferred at 12:01 a.m. to the Mississippi Shipping Co., at Galveston, Texas, under a general agency agreement. The ship, armed and assigned a U.S. Navy gun crew, served in the arduous Russian Convoy Operations between 15 December 1942 and 29 January 1943 and her gun crew received one battle star for that service.
On 4 August 1943, West Gotomska was acquired under a bareboat charter by the government of Chile and renamed Andalien (Compania Sud-Americana de Vapores), at New Orleans, La., at 8:00 a.m. She was acquired by A. L. Burbank under a general agency agreement at noon on 2 June 1947, then was placed in the Reserve Fleet at Jones Point, N.Y., at 1:10 p.m., on 16 June 1947. Ultimately, she was purchased by Northern Metals Co. and delivered to her purchaser at Jones Point at 6:20 p.m. on 21 November 1947, to be broken up for scrap.
Robert J. Cressman
Updated, 29 April 2024
