SS West Niger
| History | |
|---|---|
| United States | |
| Name |
|
| Owner |
|
| Operator |
|
| Ordered | 10 July 1918 |
| Builder | Southwestern Shipbuilding Co., San Pedro |
| Cost | $1,874,853.67 |
| Yard number | 12 |
| Laid down | 17 April 1919 |
| Launched | 28 September 1919 |
| Sponsored by | Mrs. H. C. Bedwell |
| Commissioned | 31 January 1920 |
| Maiden voyage | 18 February 1920 |
| Homeport |
|
| Identification |
|
| Fate | Wrecked, 27 September 1932 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Design 1019 cargo ship |
| Tonnage | |
| Length | 410.5 ft (125.1 m) |
| Beam | 54.3 ft (16.6 m) |
| Draft | 24 ft 5⁄8 in (7.331 m) (mean) |
| Depth | 27.2 ft (8.3 m) |
| Installed power | 359 Nhp, 2,800 ihp |
| Propulsion | Llewellyn Iron Works 3-cylinder triple expansion |
| Speed | 10+1⁄2 knots (12.1 mph; 19.4 km/h) |
West Niger was a steam cargo ship built in 1919–1920 by Southwestern Shipbuilding Company of San Pedro for the United States Shipping Board (USSB) as part of the wartime shipbuilding program of the Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) to restore the nation's Merchant Marine. The freighter spent her entire career in the Pacific connecting the West Coast of the United States with the Chinese and Japanese ports in the Far East. Early in 1928, the ship, together with ten other vessels, was sold by the Shipping Board to the States Steamship Co. and subsequently renamed Nevada. In September 1932, the vessel, while on her regular trip to Japan, ran aground in foggy weather on Amatignak Island and subsequently broke into three parts and sank with the loss of thirty four out of thirty seven men.