USS Pocahontas (ID-3044)

''Prinzess Irene''

She was launched as Prinzess Irene on 19 June 1900 by Aktiengesellschaft Vulkan, Stettin, Germany for North German Lloyd Lines. On 9 September 1900, she started her maiden voyage to New York City. On 30 October 1900, she began the first of seven trips on the German Empire mail run to the Far East to Yokohama, the route she was built for.

On 30 April 1903, she went on the Genoa – Naples – New York run and stayed mainly on this service together with her sister ship and sometimes other ships of the Barbarossa class. In 1911, under Captain Frederic von Letten-Peterssen, she was stranded for eighty-three hours on the Fire Island sandbars.

Her last voyage was to New York on 9 July 1914. With the outbreak of World War I in August, she was stranded in New York since the British Royal Navy controlled the North Atlantic. She remained there until seized by the United States by on 30 June 1917, under the authority prescribed in the Enemy Vessel Confiscation Joint Resolution passed on 12 May 1917.

USS ''Pocahontas''

After refitting and training with the Atlantic Fleet, she was commissioned as Princess Irene on 25 July 1917. Assigned to the Cruiser-Transport Force under Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves, the ship was renamed Pocahontas on 1 September 1917.

Through the rest of the war and for nearly a year after the Armistice, Pocahontas served as a troop transport, completing eighteen round trips to Europe. She carried 24,573 servicemen to Brest and St. Nazaire and returned 23,296 servicemen to the United States.

Although Pocahontas conveyed all of her passengers safely, she faced numerous dangers. The most serious incident occurred in the forenoon of 2 May 1918 when an Imperial German Navy submarine surfaced in her path and straddled her with 5.9 in shells. Captain Edward C. Kalbfus ordered the crew to battle stations and gave the signal to open fire. However, the U-boat was not in range of her guns. Fragments of enemy shells landed on the ship, but she was not directly hit and suffered no casualties. Captain Kalbus commenced zig-zag courses, and then at full speed drew away from the submarine, probably , about twenty minutes after the attack began. Making a record of 16.2 kn, he kept the enemy out of range until he lost her. For his successful defense of his ship, Captain Kalfbus was awarded the Navy Cross.

Pocahontas decommissioned at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on 7 November 1919 and was handed over to the United States Shipping Board for sale.

SS ''Pocahontas''

In 1920, SS Pocahontas was chartered to the United States Mail Steamship Company of New York and began commercial services between the United States and Italy in 1921. |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121212212633/http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-p/id3044.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=12 December 2012 |access-date=19 May 2010

Pocahontas was the subject of widespread media coverage between May and July 1921 due to mechanical problems, sabotage and mutiny. The vessel left New York on 23 May 1921 en route to Naples. On 25 May, she was anchored off Nobska Point in Vineyard Sound in need of repair.

The then future Prime Minister of Israel, Golda Meir, was on board Pocahontas in May 1921, while emigrating from the United States to Palestine. She recounts the events of the journey in her autobiography, My Life. |author-link=Golda Meir |url-access = registration

SS ''Bremen''

In April 1922, the United States Shipping Board received an offer of £17,000 for the purchase of Pocahontas, which was then laid up in Malta.

After repair and refit, SS Bremen made her first voyage from Bremen to New York in April 1923.

The Laristan, a cargo ship, foundered in the Atlantic in January 1926 at with the loss of 24 of her 30 crew; survivors were rescued by Bremen.

SS ''Karlsruhe''

She was renamed Karlsruhe in 1928 and continued to serve until 1932, before being scrapped in Germany.

References

References

1. Kludas, Arnold. "Great Passenger Ships of the World Vol 1 1858–1912". Patrick Stephens Ltd.
2. (11 April 1911). "Brings Liner Irene Safely to her Pier". [[The New York Times]].
3. (28 January 1926). "Feared loss of the Laristan".
4. Arnold Kludas. "Great Passenger Ships of the World Vol 1 1858–1912". Patrick Stephens Ltd.