SS Corvus (1919)

Sisiter ship Karaganda (ex. Circinus). Photo dated between 18 of March 1961 and 1st of October 1963. West class cargo steamers as per U.S. classification [1] and Belarussia class cargo steamers as per USSR classification [2]
History
Name:	Corvus[1]
Namesake:	Circinus (Nov 1919 - Dec 1929) Flomar (1930 - 10 Jan 1945)[2][3] Узбекистан (10 Jan 1945 - August 1945)
Owner:	1919 - 1923: Green Star Line, USA 1923 – Dec 1929: Planet Steamship company, USA. Dec 1929 – 10 Jan 1945: Calmar Steamship Corporation, USA. 10 Jan 1945 – summer 1945: Far East Shipping Company, USSR.[2]
Operator:	Nov 1919 – 1920: Green Star Line, USA. 1920 – 1923: Nafra Steamship company, USA. 1923 – Dec 1929: Planet Steamship company, USA. Dec 1929 – 10 Jan 1945: Calmar Steamship company, USA. 10 Jan 1945 – summer 1945: Far East Shipping Company, USSR.[2]
Port of registry:	Nov 1919 – 10 Jan 1945: USA ports. 10 Jan 1945 – summer 1945: Vladivistok, USSR.[2]
Builder:	list error: <br /> list (help) Columbia River Shipbuilding Company, Portland, Oregon, USA.[2] Official Number: 219269[3]
Launched:	Delivered in November 1919.[3]
Renamed:	Circinus (1919-10 January 1945);[2] Uzbekistan (Russian: Узбекистан) (10 January 1945 - summer 1945)[2]
Fate:	scrapped in August 1945
General characteristics
Type:	freighter, tweendecker
Tonnage:	10,000 ton about [4] GT = 5,748 tons [3]
Length:	423.8 ft (129.16 m).[2]
Beam:	54.0 ft (16.46 m).[2]
Height:	24.1 ft (7.35 m).[2]
Propulsion:	2800 hrp.[2] Single screw.
Speed:	10.5 knots (economic speed).[2]
Capacity:	GRT=5551.[2]
Crew:	60 men [4]
Armament:	machine guns 1 x 102 mm, 1 x 76.2 mm, 8 x 20 mm.[2]

Corvus was a US built merchant steam ship of USA companies from November 1919 to 10 of January 1945 and a merchant ship, renamed to Uzbekistan (Russian: Узбекистан), of the Soviet Union from 01 of January to summer 1945. Due to a collision on the 31 of May, 1945 she was scrapped in 1946.^[2][3]

Ship's particulars.

Design 1013 ship.^[2] Low free board.

Cargo gear: ship's cargo derricks equipped with steam motors.
Cargo holds: 4 cargo holds and tween decks.

History

This ship was built by Columbia River Shipbuilding Company, Portland, Oregon (USA), in 1919.^[2]

SS Circinus (1919-1930).

During and just after World War I, the Shipping Board's sales campaigns urged Americans to buy ships for wealth and patriotism. Other ethnic groups set up shipping lines by appealing to group solidarity. So, Irish businessmen created the "Green Star Line".^[5]

• 18 January 1920. The newspaper "The Sunday Oregonian", Portland, wrote on the page 46:

GREEN STAR WILL PLY ATLANTIC

Four Steamers Purchased Here to Sail From Baltimore.

Speculation as to the future field of operations of the Green Star Steamship company, which purchased four steel steamers in Portland and placed orders for the construction of five more, was ended last week by a formal announcement from the headquarters of the company in Baltimore, where the Green Star line has pur chased a large building to serve as a home for its shipping enterprises. The last of the steamers purchased by, the line here, the Circlnus, sailed from Astoria Wednesday with a full cargo of lumber for Melbourne and Adelaide, Australia. This cargo amounted to 4.086,103 feet, it is reported by Brown & McCabe, stevedores, who had charge of loading the vessel.

The three other steamers purchased here by the Green Star line are the Corvus, which went in ballast to Arica, Chile, to load nitrates for Europe; the Centaurus, which took a part cargo of lumber here and went to San Francisco to finish a general cargo for the west coast, and the Clauseus, which went from here to San Francisco in ballast to load beans for Hamburg.[6][7]

• In February 1923 five ships of the "Green Star Line" were sold at auction at Baltimore for $735,000, a figure that was considered too low by shipping experts (NYT, 28 February 1923). The "Green Star Line" was not officially reorganized until March 1923. A new corporation the "Planet Star Corp.", brought the remainder of ships owned by the "Green Star Line". In September 1923 an official exchange of securities began, allowing holders of "Green Star Line" stock to trade for stock in the new company (NYT, 8 March and 4 September 1923).^[8]

"Calmar Steamship Co." (1927-1976). A subsidiary of "Bethlehem Steel Corp.", serving the intercoastal trade. The company was established by Bethlehem in 1927 to complete with United States Steel's Isthmian Line. Bethlehem had previously operated the "Ore Steamship Corp." as a proprietary operation, but "Calmar" was only "half proprietary", carrying exclusively Bethlehem's steel westbound, but functioning as a common carrier on the return voyage to the East Coast by carrying lumber from a variety of shippers. In addition, "Calmar" collaborated with Moore-McCormack in these voyages.^[9]

• 13 of December 1929. The newspaper "Oakland Tribune" in Oakland, California, wrote:

Isthmian Lines House Flag from 1910 to 1974.

  "CALMAR BUYS SHIPS.

  The "Calmar Line" has purchased five freighters from the "Planet Steamship company", according to announcement from New York. This purchase increases the Calmar intercoastal fleet to eleven ships. The new craft are 880 tons register.

  The vessels involved are all well known on this coast, consisting of the Circinius, Corvus, Clauseus, Centaurus and Eurana. They have run into local ports for several years under the Isthmian Line houseflag".[10][11]

The ship Corvus was renamed to Flomar in 1930.^[2][3]

In the immediate post-Word War II period, Calmar purchased eight Liberty ships and modified them for the company's purposes.^[9] Seems the ship Flomar (ex. Corvus) was counted as one of this eight Liberty ships, but she was not really Liberty class ships.

As Узбекистан (English: Uzbekistan) in Far East Shipping Company (1945 year).

• 10 of January, 1945. US cargo ship Flomar was adopted by the Soviet Purchasing Committee, renamed Узбекистан (English: Uzbekistan) and entered in the Far Eastern State Shipping Company on the 10 of January, 1945. As a part of the Far Eastern basin paramilitary vessels during the World War II, the ship Узбекистан performed export and import carriages between the Soviet Union Pacific ports and ports of the allies. Armament: one 102 mm, one 76.2 mm and eight 20 mm machine guns.^[2]
• 31 of May, 1945. The ship Узбекистан was damaged badly in a collision with Alaska Steamship Company's ship American Star(1918) at the exit of Dutch Harbor and Узбекистан had run aground, on the coastal shallows of the island of Unalaska (Aleutian Islands), to avoid being flooded after collision.^[2][12]
• 05 of June, 1945. She was taken out from the shallows by US rescuers.
• 11 of August, 1945. Restoration of this ship was impossible and she was handed over to the US for dismantling and scrapping.^[2]
• In 1946, the ship was scrapped.^[3]

The ship Uzbekistan passed for dismantling and scrapping in August 1945. Scrapped in 1946.^[2][3]

Other ships with the names Corvus and Uzbekistan

• Another one cargo steamship Corvus was built in 1920 or 1921 in North Europe and sunk due to Germany submarine attack in February 1945. It is means that two ships had name Corvus from 1920 to 1930.
• Another one Soviet Union cargo ship Узбекистан (GRT = 3,400 tons) was built in France for the Far East State Shipping Company of the Soviet Union in 1937 and was lost near the Strait of Juan de Fuca (Seattle, USA) as a result of a navigation accident on the 1st of April 1943.^[13][12] It is means that our ship Corvus inherited a name Uzbekistan in 1945.
• The tanker ship Павел (1893) was built in Tsat Russia and run in Caspian Sea. During the World War I the ship was rebuilt to cargo-passenger ship. From 1920 she was in Soviet Union Caspian fleet and in 1953 she was renamed to Узбекистан. She was decommissioned in 1960.^[14]
• The passenger ship Узбекистан, IMO number 6421543, was built in 1962 for the Black Sea Shipping Company and scrapped in 2000.^[15]

References

To see also

• SS Karaganda
• SS Centaurus
• Green Star Line