USS Kermoor

Painting by an unknown artist depicting USS Kermoor on her March 1919 voyage from Europe to the United States
History
United States
Name	USS Kermoor
Namesake	Previous name retained
Builder	JL Thompson and Sons, Ltd, Sunderland, England
Launched	See note
Completed	1907
Acquired	1 November 1918
Commissioned	1 November 1918
Decommissioned	5 May 1919
Fate	Transferred to United States Shipping Board on 5 May 1919 for simultaneous return to owner
Notes	In commercial service as Morawitz 1907–17, as Kermoor 1917–18 and 1919–21, as Morawitz 1921–27, and as Purley Oaks 1927–36 Scrapped 1936
General characteristics
Type	Cargo ship
Tonnage	4,795 GRT
Displacement	3,106 tons
Length	378 ft (115 m)
Beam	52 ft 4 in (15.95 m)
Draft	22 ft 6 in (6.86 m)
Installed power	392 NHP
Propulsion	triple-expansion steam engine
Speed	9 knots (17 km/h)
Complement	67
Armament	1 × 3-inch (76 mm) gun

USS Kermoor was a United States Navy cargo ship in commission from 1918 to 1919.

Construction, early career, acquisition, and commissioning

Kermoor was built in 1907 at Sunderland, England, by JL Thompson and Sons, Ltd as the Austro-Hungarian commercial cargo ship SS Morawitz. Upon the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, she took refuge at Galveston, Texas, in the then-neutral United States to avoid capture or destruction by Allied forces. When the United States took control of all Central Powers merchant ships in its ports in April 1917 when it entered the war on the side of the Allies, it seized German ships and acquired all the Austro-Hungarian merchant ships in its own and other Western Hemisphere ports, although since there was no state of war with Austria-Hungary this was accomplished by purchase. Eight former Austro-Hungarian cargo ships thus became the property of the Kerr Navigation Company of New York City. Kerr Navigation gave them all names beginning with "Ker," Morawitz becoming Kermoor.

The United States Army took control of Kermoor on 14 March 1918 for World War I service. The US Navy acquired her from the Army at Cardiff, Wales, on 1 November 1918 and commissioned her the same day as USS Kermoor. Unlike most commercial ships commissioned into US Navy service during World War I, Kermoor never received a naval registry Identification Number (Id. No.).

United States Navy service

Operated by the Navy under Army account, Kermoor served out of Cardiff, carrying coal and military supplies between UK and French ports until 1 March 1919.

Detached from this cross-English Channel service on 1 March 1919, Kermoor departed Queenstown, Ireland, for the United States on 6 March 1919 with a cargo of military stores. She reached Baltimore, Maryland, on 27 March 1919, then departed for New York City on 21 April 1919. She arrived there on 23 April 1919 and discharged her cargo.

Kermoor was decommissioned at Hoboken, New Jersey, on 5 May 1919 and transferred to the United States Shipping Board the same day for simultaneous return to the Kerr Navigation Company.

Later career

Kermoor resumed commercial operations as SS Kermoor. In 1921, she was transferred to the Hungarian flag and resumed the name Morawitz. She was transferred to the UK flag and renamed Purley Oaks in 1927. She was scrapped at Rosyth, Scotland in 1936.

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 US Navy Ships USS Kermoor (1918-1919) Previously the Austro-Hungarian freighter Morawitz (1907). Later named Kermoor, Morawitz, and Purley Oaks
• NavSource Online: Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive: Kermoor