(Freighter: dp. 12,570; l. 416'6"; b. 53'0"; dr. 26'3" (mean) ; dph. 34'6"; s. 10.
(Freighter: dp. 12,570; l. 416'6"; b. 53'0"; dr. 26'3" (mean) ; dph. 34'6"; s. 10.0 k.; cpl. 79; a. none)
The first Yellowstone was a steel-hulled, single-screw freighter launched as War Boy on 9 December 1917 by the Moore and Scott Shipbuilding Co. of Oakland, Calif., and was completed in 1918. Inspected by the Navy in the 12th Naval District, with an eye toward utilizing the ship as a depot collier, and assigned Id. No. 2657, the freighter sailed from the west coast to the eastern seaboard, and was taken over by the Navy at Philadelphia for operation with the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS). She was commissioned at Cramps' Shipbuilding Co. yard on 21 September 1918, Lt. Comdr. Lawrence Dodd, USNRF, in command.
Soon thereafter, Yellowstone moved to New York where she arrived on the 24th. She underwent repairs at the Morse Drydock and Repair Co. yards, Brooklyn, and suffered damage in a minor sideswiping collision with the British-registry Moorish Prince on 13 October. Shifting to Pier 5, Bush Terminal, Brooklyn, on the morning of the 15th, after repairs from her brush with Moorish Prince, the vessel took on board 6,672 tons of general cargo—including automobiles and locomotives— earmarked for American forces in France, over the next few days. On 27 October, Yellowstone got underway, in convoy, for France, "proceeding under confidential orders on Army transport duty to port of debarkation," St. Nazaire.
The war ended on 11 November while Yellowstone was en route to France and, three days later, the ship arrived at Quiberon Bay. She remained at anchor there until she received onward routing to St. Nazaire. There, she discharged her cargo and began taking on "return" cargo for transport to the United States. That load included "aero