1902 Wm. F. Fitch 1942 (1951)
Steel Great Lakes bulk freighter
Built at Wyandotte MI by Detroit Shipbuilding Co., Hull 147
Launched April 12, 1902
366’ LOA, 346’ LBP, 48’ beam, 28’ depth
1 deck, hold beams, hatches @ 24’, coal-fired boilers, triple expansion engine, 1420 IHP
Enrolled at Detroit MI April 28, 1902 (#55)
346.0 x 48.0 x 28.0, 3629 GT, 2632 NT US 81807 to:
Detroit Shipbuilding Co.
Reenrolled at Cleveland OH May 1, 1902 (#80) to:
Franklin Transportation Co., Cleveland OH, M. A. Hanna & Co., Mgr. (home port to Fairport OH)
Entered service 1902
Sold June 19, 1923 to Pioneer Steamship Co., Cleveland OH, Hutchinson & Co., Mgr.
Sold Oct 15, 1923 to Jenkins Steamship Co., Cleveland OH
Home port 1932 to Wilmington DE
Sold 1934 at Marshall’s sale at Milwaukee WI to P. J. Gunn, Buffalo NY and resold to
Detroit & Cleveland Steamship Co., Detroit MI
Converted to combination package freighter and automobile carrier
Sold 1942 to U. S. Maritime Commission for off-Lakes service. Towed down Illinois and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans LA
Scrapped 1951 in California
0231
Between 1942, and 1951, your details are lacking. My Dad was Coast Guard Sailor, in about the time of your listing stops. My Dad joined her in New Orleans. He rebuilt all of the Davits on deck when it sailed out of N.O. LA. They sailed through the Panama Canal and up to Hawaii, then on to Manila In the Philippines, it was converted to a Retool Repair and Refit ship, out fitted with crew of Army Coast Guard and Navy sailors. She was owned by the US Army, crewed by Coast Guard and ordered around by the Navy. When my Father was relived from her she had been turned over to the Philippines for her equipment machine tools welding, all the possible needs in tools including deep sea diving equipment and so many other tools and processes, she could recover sunken vessels, repair Jeeps, Tanks, Landing Craft, any thing that could be brought to her, or send the repair personal to the disabled equipment.
When leaving N.O. She had been fitted with a 3” deck gun mounted on a steel plate and welded to her Boilerplate deck, as well as 2 “Ash can racks” at the stern (Depth charges) my Dad was asked by his skipper at one time between Hawaii and the Philippines how to deal with a Japanese Sub that was hiding in their Baffles by Day and Surfacing at night to recharge their batteries. My Dad told the skipper that one shot from the 3 inch Gun would turn its barrel sky ward, and make it useless. And that to throw an ash can overboard would be Suicidal due to the concussion, it would separate the boiler plates and they would float like a cheese grater. So sink. My dad was the Water Tender 2nd class at the time he made fresh water, and serviced and fed the Two Quadruple expansion schotch Marine Boilers refit was carried out in New Orleans
He had learned about the Boilers at the Massachusetts Electric boat Company in the New York harbor district school that was there back then.