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USS ''America'' (ID-3006) was a troop transport for the United States Navy during World War I. She was launched in 1905 as SS ''Amerika'' by Harland and Wolff in Belfast for the Hamburg America Line of Germany. As a passenger liner, she sailed primarily between Hamburg and New York. On 14 April 1912, ''Amerika'' transmitted a wireless message about icebergs near the same area where RMS ''Titanic'' struck one and sank less than three hours later. At the outset of World War I, ''Amerika'' was docked at Boston; rather than risk seizure by the British Royal Navy, she remained in port for the next three years. Hours before the entry of the United States into the war, ''Amerika'' was seized and placed under control of the United States Shipping Board (USSB). Later transferred to the U.S. Navy for use as a troop transport, she was initially commissioned as USS ''Amerika'' with Naval Registry Identification Number 3006 (ID-3006), but her name was soon Anglicized to ''America''. As ''America'' she transported almost 40,000 troops to France. She sank at her mooring in New York in 1918, but was soon raised and reconditioned. After the Armistice, ''America'' transported over 51,000 troops back home from Europe. In 1919, she was handed over to the War Department for use by the United States Army as USAT ''America'', under whose control she remained until 1920. Returned to the USSB in 1920, ''America'' was initially assigned to the United States Mail Steamship Company, and later, after that company’s demise, to United States Lines, for whom she plied the North Atlantic on Bremen to New York routes. In March 1926, due to a tragic oil leak from inside the ship, near the end of one of her periodic refits, ''America'' suffered a fire that raged for seven hours and burned nearly all of her passenger cabins. Despite almost $2,000,000 in damage, the ship was rebuilt and back in service by the following year. In April 1931, ''America'' ended her service for the United States Lines and was laid up for almost nine years. In October 1940, ''America'' was reactivated for the U.S. Army and renamed USAT ''Edmund B. Alexander''. After a stint as a barracks ship at St. John's, Newfoundland, the ''Alexander'' was refitted for use as a troopship for World War II duty. She was first placed on a New Orleans to Panama route, but later transferred to trooping between New York and European ports. At the end of the war, ''Edmund B. Alexander'' was converted to carry military dependents, remaining in that service until 1949. She was placed in reserve until sold for scrapping in January 1957. == SS ''Amerika'' == ''Amerika'' — a steel-hulled, twin-screw, steam passenger liner— was launched on 20 April 1905 at Belfast, Northern Ireland, by the noted shipbuilding firm of Harland and Wolff, Ltd. Built for the Hamburg America Line, the steamer entered transatlantic service in the autumn of 1905, when she departed Hamburg on 11 October, bound for the United States. A slightly larger sister ship, Kaiserin Auguste Victoria was being built at the same time at Hamburg and would remain the largest ship in the world until the ''Lusitania''. Easily one of the most luxurious passenger vessels to sail the seas, ''Amerika'' entered upper New York Bay on 20 October, reaching the Hamburg America piers at Hoboken, New Jersey, in mid-afternoon. Some 2,000 people turned out to watch her as she was moored near her consorts at the Hamburg America Line which were bedecked in colorful bunting in nearby slips. Lavishly decorated throughout, ''Amerika'' boasted of a couple of unique shipboard features; an electric passenger elevator, and an a-la-carte restaurant which, from early morning to midnight, offered a variety of dishes to delight the discriminating gourmet. From 1905 to 1914, ''Amerika'' plied the North Atlantic trade routes touching at Cherbourg, France, while steaming between Hamburg and New York. Toward the end of that period, her itinerary was altered so that the ship also called at Boulougne, France, and Southampton, England. On 14 April 1912, a ship's officer sent a telegram message to the Hydrographic Office in Washington, D.C. reporting that the ship "passed two large icebergs in 41 27N 50 8W on the 14th of April" signed "Knutp, 10;51p()". This message was, coincidentally, relayed by the Marconi operator on to the station at Cape Race because the transmitter of ''Amerika'' was not powerful enough to reach Cape Race directly. ''Amerika'' was responsible for the accidental loss of British submarine by collision northeast of Dover in the early hours of 4 October 1912. The eruption of fighting at the outset of World War I caught ''Amerika'' at Boston, where she was preparing to sail for home. Although due to leave port on 1 August 1914, ''Amerika'' stayed at Boston to avoid capture by the Royal Navy. She remained there through almost three years of United States neutrality. During its voyage from New York to Europe in the second week of April 1911, ''Amerika'' carried the mortally ill composer Gustav Mahler back home. He was to die in Vienna on 18 May 1911. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「USS America (ID-3006)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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