USS West Bridge

West Bridge in dazzle camouflage shortly before completion in May 1918
History
United States
Name	USS West Bridge (ID-2888)
Builder	J. F. Duthie & Company Seattle, Washington
Yard number	11[2]
Launched	24 April 1918[1]
Completed	26 May 1918[1]
Acquired	26 May 1918[3]
Commissioned	26 May 1918[3]
Decommissioned	1 December 1919[3]
Identification	United States official number: 216348 Code Letters LKRQ (1919–34) Code letters KJOO (1934–45)
Fate	Returned to United States Shipping Board
History
Name	1919–1929: West Bridge 1929–1939: Barbara Cates 1939–1945: Pan Gulf 1945–1966: Lermontov (Russian: Лермонтов)[10]
Namesake	1945: Mikhail Lermontov
Owner	1919: U.S. Shipping Board 1929: Sudden & Christenson[1] 1938: Waterman[5] 1939: Pan Atlantic[5] 1943: War Shipping Administration[9] 1945: Soviet Union[8]
Operator	1945: FESCO[10] 1950: Black Sea Shipping Co.[10]
Port of registry	1919: Seattle 1929:  San Francisco[4] 1938:  Mobile, Alabama[5] 1940:  Wilmington, Delaware[6] 1944:  New York[7] 1945: Soviet Union[8]
Fate	Scrapped at Split, Yugoslavia, 29 June 1966[1]
General characteristics
Type	Cargo ship
Tonnage	5,799 GRT[1] 8,594 LT DWT[11]
Displacement	12,200 long tons (12,400 t)[3]
Length	409 ft 5 in (124.79 m) (pp)[1] 423 ft 9 in (129.16 m) (oa)[3]
Beam	54 ft 0 in (16.46 m)[3]
Draft	24 ft 1 in (7.34 m) (mean)[3]
Depth of hold	29 ft 9 in (9.07 m)[3]
Propulsion	1 × triple-expansion steam engine,[5] 2,500 hp (1,900 kW)[10]
Speed	10.5 knots (19.4 km/h)[3]
Complement	88 (as USS West Bridge)[3]
Armament	World War I: 1 × 4-inch (102 mm) gun 1 × 3-inch (76 mm) gun[3]

USS West Bridge (ID-2888) was a Design 1013 cargo ship in the United States Navy during World War I. She was begun as War Topaz for the British Government but was completed as West Bridge (though referred to in some publications under the spelling Westbridge). After being decommissioned from the Navy, the ship returned to civilian service as West Bridge, but was renamed Barbara Cates, and Pan Gulf over the course of her commercial career under American registry.

West Bridge was one of the West ships, a series of steel-hulled cargo ships built for the United States Shipping Board (USSB) on the West Coast of the United States. She was launched in April 1918 and delivered to the U.S. Navy upon completion in May. After commissioning, USS West Bridge sailed from the Pacific Northwest to the East Coast of the United States and joined a convoy of cargo ships headed to France in August. After the ship suffered an engine breakdown at sea the convoy was attacked by two German submarines and West Bridge was torpedoed and abandoned. A salvage crew from the American destroyer Smith boarded her the following day, and, working with four tugs dispatched from France, successfully brought the ship into port. Four men received the Navy Cross for their efforts.

After seven months of repair, West Bridge resumed Navy service until her December 1919 decommissioning and return to the USSB. She was laid up from 1922 to 1929, when she was sold for service on an intercoastal cargo service under the name Barbara Cates. By 1938, the ship had been renamed Pan Gulf for service with a subsidiary of the Waterman Steamship Company. During World War II, Pan Gulf made nine round trips between the United States and the United Kingdom without incident in wartime convoys. She also sailed between New York and ports on the Gulf Coast and in the Caribbean. In May 1945, she was transferred to the Soviet Union under Lend-Lease. Renamed Lermontov, the ship sailed in support of the war and continued in civilian service for the Soviets until 1966, when she was scrapped at Split, Yugoslavia.