Graf Waldersee (Id. No. 4040)
1919
The Navy retained the name carried by this vessel at the time of her acquisition.
(Id. No. 4040: displacement 25,000; length 585'; beam 62'; draft 32'3"; speed 13 knots; complement 553; armament none)
Graf Waldersee -- a twin-screw steel-hull passenger steamship launched on 10 December 1898 at Hamburg, Germany, by Blohm & Voss and completed on 18 March 1899 for the Hamburg-Amerika Linie -- was taken over from Germany at the close of the Great War [World War I], and, having been assigned the identification number (Id. No.) 4040 was commissioned at Spithead, England, on 28 March 1919, Cmdr. Lemuel M. Stevens in command.
Assigned to the Cruiser and Transport Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, Graf Waldersee arrived at Brest, France, on 30 March 1919, and embarked 1,526 passengers, mostly homeward-bound veterans; departed on 7 April and arrived New York on 20 April 1919. In two subsequent voyages from New York to Brest (18 May-2 June and 7-30 August), she returned 4,108 additional civilians and troops to the United States.
Decommissioned at Stapleton, N.Y. on 25 November 1919, the ship was turned over to the U.S. Shipping Board.
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
7 June 2024
