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USS ''Bridgeport'' (AD-10/ID-3009) was a destroyer tender in the United States Navy during World War I and the years after. She was a twin-screw, steel-hulled passenger and cargo steamship built in 1901 at Vegesack, Germany as SS ''Breslau'' of the North German Lloyd line. ''Breslau'' was one of the seven ships of the ''Köln'' class of ships built for the Bremen to Baltimore and Galveston route. Interned at New Orleans, Louisiana at the outbreak of World War I, ''Breslau'' was seized in 1917 by the United States after her entry into the war and commissioned into the Navy as USS ''Bridgeport''. Originally slated to be a repair ship, she was reclassified as a destroyer tender the following year. ''Bridgeport'' completed several transatlantic convoy crossings before she was stationed at Brest, France, where she remained in a support role after the end of World War I. After returning to the United States in November 1919, she spent the next five years along the East Coast and in the Caribbean tending destroyers and conducting training missions. She was decommissioned in November 1924 and placed in reserve at the Boston Navy Yard. After being struck from the Naval Vessel Register in October 1941, and a brief, unsuccessful attempt at merchant service early in World War II, she was transferred to the War Department for use by the United States Army in November 1942. The ship was selected for employment as a Hague Convention hospital ship and renamed USAHS ''Larkspur''. She made three round trips to the United Kingdom before an extended tour of duty in the Mediterranean. In January 1946, she was converted into transport ship USAT ''Bridgeport'', destined for returning war brides and other military dependents from overseas. She continued in this role until laid up in the Reserve Fleet at Brunswick, Georgia, in 1947. ''Bridgeport'' was sold as surplus in February 1948 and broken up for scrap later that year at Mobile, Alabama. ==SS ''Breslau''== ''Breslau'' was built in 1901 by the Bremer Vulkan yard at Vegesack for the North German Lloyd line as the fourth of seven ships of the ''Köln'' class.〔〔 The ''Köln''-class ships, all named after German cities, were designed for the Bremen to Baltimore and Galveston route, and were specially fitted for steerage traffic.〔Drechsel (1994), Volume 1, p. 190.〕〔Norddeutscher Lloyd (1927), p. 56.〕 Though the class was designed with accommodations for 120 cabin-class passengers and up to 1,850 steerage passengers for service from Germany, ''Breslaus capacity was somewhat lower, with room for 66 cabin-class and 1,660 in steerage.〔〔 The ''Köln''-class steerage compartments had portholes for better light and ventilation than was typical, and included cabins that housed from four to ten passengers. ''Köln''-class ships were specially designed to carry large freight loads on return voyages to Germany, with holds customized for carrying wheat and cotton.〔 ''Breslau'' was a 7,524-ton steel-hulled vessel built with twin quadruple expansion steam engines that generated and drove twin screws that moved the ship at a pace.〔〔 Her length as built was with a beam of .〔 She had a single funnel, two masts, was outfitted with an awning deck, and was staffed by 94 to 120 crew members, depending upon the route and season.〔〔 After launching on 14 August 1901, ''Breslau'' sailed to New York on her maiden voyage on 23 November of that same year.〔 In April 1902, she sailed on the Bremen to Baltimore route for the first time, and in September 1903, added Galveston to her itinerary. In March 1910, the liner was moved to the Bremen–Philadelphia run.〔Bonsor (1975), Volume II, p. 188.〕 On 20 July 1913, while making an intermediate stop in Hoboken, New Jersey, ''Breslau'' was being warped into position when an electrical fire broke out at the pier where she was docking. ''Breslau'' made an emergency departure into the Hudson River, during which time the blaze was extinguished. The ship was not damaged and none of the 1,500 passengers aboard were injured in the incident. The ship left for Philadelphia on schedule the next day. In May 1914, ''Breslau'' was shifted to a Bremen to Boston and New Orleans run. She left Bremen on 8 July 1914 for what turned out to be her last voyage for North German Lloyd. She landed at New York on 24 July after stops at Emden and Boston. After continuing on to New Orleans, ''Breslau'' was interned there after the German Empire had declared war, entering World War I.〔 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 Bridgeport (AD-10)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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