USS Mercury

Description:

Sepia toned photograph of the 30th Infantry Division (Old Hickory) on the USS Mercury as she is docking at the Charleston Port Terminal. The image captures hundreds of soldiers waiting on deck as unseen tugboats on the starboard side are pushing the transport ship to the dock. Handwritten on reverse reads, "Transport Mercury."

The USS Mercury was formerly the SS Barbarossa operated by the North German Lloyd Line. When World War I began in 1914, she took shelter in Hoboken, New Jersey but was not seized until April 6, 1917 when the United States officially entered the war. In December that same year, she was commissioned as the transport ship, USS Mercury and in 1918 started ferrying troops to France. Completing seven voyages and transporting 18,542 troops she was then reversed and made eight more crossings to bring more than 20,000 troops back to the United States.

• Title: USS Mercury
• Photographer: [Burton, E. Milby (1898-1977)]
• Date: March 1919

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• Collection: Photograph Collection
• Object Name: World War I
• Object Id: MK 10880m

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• Search Terms
  • Demobilizations
  • Military troops
  • Port terminals
  • Ships
  • Troop movements
  • War