USS Housatonic (SP-1697)
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| History | |
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| Name: | USS Housatonic (SP-1697) |
| Namesake: | The Housatonic River |
| Builder: | built in 1899 by Newport News Shipbuilding in Norfolk, Virginia. |
| Completed: | 1899 |
| Commissioned: | 25 January 1918 |
| Decommissioned: | 5 August 1919 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Minelayer (in 1918) |
| Displacement: | 7,000 tons |
| Length: | 405 ft (123 m) |
| Beam: | 48 ft (15 m) |
| Draft: | 20 ft (6.1 m) |
| Speed: | 15 knots |
| Capacity: | 830 mines (900 max) |
| Crew: | 21 officers and 400 men |
| Armament: |
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The second USS Housatonic was the Southern Pacific freighter El Rio temporarily converted for planting the World War I North Sea Mine Barrage. Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company launched El Rio at Newport News, Virginia in 1899 for service between New York City and Gulf of Mexico seaports of New Orleans and Galveston, Texas. The United States Shipping Board took control of the ship from Southern Pacific Steamship Company in 1917.
She was fitted out for United States Navy service at Tietjen & Lang's shipyard at Hoboken, New Jersey. Work began on 25 November 1917. Gun platforms were added for two anti-aircraft guns forward and a 5"/51 caliber gun aft. The minelaying conversion enabled her to carry mines on three decks, and included six Otis elevators individually capable of transferring two mines every 20 seconds from the storage decks to the launching deck. Stern ports were cut for launching the mines and the rudder quadrant was raised to give adequate clearance. Watertight subdivision was improved by strengthening existing bulkheads and building two new bulkheads to divide the largest compartments so the ship might stay afloat if only one compartment were flooded. Quarters were enlarged to accommodate messing and berthing arrangements for a crew of about 400. The main machinery was overhauled and auxiliary machinery was added for the elevators, for heating the berthing spaces, for refrigerated food storage, for additional fresh water distilling capacity, for magazine sprinklers and galley and washroom plumbing, and enlarged electric generators for lighting and radio communications. Existing coal bunkers on the third deck were replaced with a bunker in the hold forward of the boiler room with chutes to load coal over the mines. Larger boats and heavier anchors required larger davits and anchor windlass, and the mines required specialized handling machinery.
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