SS Iowan SS " Iowan was a cargo ship built in 1914 for the American - Hawaiian Steamship Company . During World War I she was taken over by the United States Navy and commissioned as USS " Iowan " ( ID - 3002 ) . During World War II , the ship was transferred to the Soviet Union and renamed SS " Tashkent ( or Ташкент in Cyrillic ) . " Iowan " was built by the Maryland Steel Company as one of eight sister ships for the American - Hawaiian Steamship Company . In October 1914 , five months after she was delivered to American - Hawaiian , " Iowan " rammed and sank the United Fruit Company steamer " Metapan " near the entrance to New York Harbor . After repairs , " Iowan " resumed inter - coastal service via the Panama Canal . When the canal was temporarily closed by landslides in late 1915 , " Iowan " sailed via the Straits of Magellan until the canal reopened in mid 1916 . During World War I , USS " Iowan " carried cargo , animals , and a limited number of passengers to France , and returned nearly 10 , 000 American troops after the Armistice . After her Navy service ended in 1919 , she was returned to her original owners , who , at least once , chartered her to another shipping company . In May 1922 , " Iowan " rammed and sank the Furness - Prince Line steamer " Welsh Prince " in the Columbia River near Astoria , Oregon , killing seven men in the process . In June 1941 , " Iowan " ran aground on a reef near Point Conception , California , and suffered $ 500 , 000 in damages while buffeted by waves on the reef . She was freed from the reef after two weeks , towed to Los Angeles , and repaired . In 1942 , the ship was requisitioned by the War Shipping Administration , which transferred her to the Soviet Union under the terms of Lend - Lease in December 1942 . She was assigned to the Far East Shipping Company under her new name of SS " Tashkent " , but sailed with the Soviet Pacific Fleet throughout the war . She delivered cargo and troops in support of the Soviet invasion of Japanese - held territories in August 1945 . After the war , the ship remained a part of the Soviet merchant fleet until 1966 . She was transferred to North Korea at that time to become a fish processing facility , and was scrapped in 1969 . Design and construction . In May 1912 , the American - Hawaiian Steamship Company placed an order with the Maryland Steel Company of Sparrows Point , Maryland , for two new cargo ships — " Iowan " and . The contract cost of the ships was set at the construction cost plus an 8 % profit for Maryland Steel , but with a maximum cost of $ 640 , 000 per ship . The construction was financed by Maryland Steel with a credit plan that called for a 5 % down payment in cash with nine monthly installments for the balance . Provisions of the deal allowed that some of the nine installments could be converted into longer - term notes or mortgages . The final cost of " Iowan " , including financing costs , was $ 71 . 95 per deadweight ton , which came out to just over $ 732 , 000 . " Iowan " ( Maryland Steel yard no . 132 ) was the first ship built under the contract . She was launched on 24 January 1914 , and delivered to American - Hawaiian on 16 May . The ship was , and was in length ( between perpendiculars ) and abeam . She had a deadweight tonnage of , and her cargo holds , which had a storage capacity of , were outfitted with a complete refrigeration plant so that she could carry perishable products from the West Coast — like fresh produce from Southern California farms — to the East Coast . " Iowan " had a single steam engine powered by oil - fired boilers that drove a single screw propeller at a speed of . Early career . When " Iowan " began sailing for American - Hawaiian , the company shipped cargo from East Coast ports via the Straits of Magellan to West Coast ports and Hawaii , and vice versa . Eastbound shipments were primarily sugar and pineapple from Hawaii , while westbound cargoes were more general in nature . With the opening of the Panama Canal on 15 August 1914 , American - Hawaiian ships switched to taking that route . At 15 : 20 on 15 October 1914 , the outbound " Iowan " rammed the United Fruit Company passenger and cargo steamer " Metapan " at the entrance of Ambrose Channel outside of New York . " Metapan " had stopped in the dense fog , but " Iowan " was traveling at a rapid pace . When " Iowan " had appeared out of the fog some from " Metapan " , the United Fruit ship sounded three blasts on the ship ' s whistle — warning " Iowan " of the impending collision . " Iowan " s captain did not alter the ship ' s course , but did drop her anchor to try and slow the fully laden ship . Nevertheless , " Iowan " gashed the bow of " Metapan " and traveled almost halfway through the passenger ship . When " Iowan " pulled out three minutes later , " Metapan " began to sink rapidly . " Metapan " s captain ordered his ship to sail at full speed for shoals some distant , on which the ship grounded in of water . A variety of craft — including the nearby British Royal Navy cruiser — responded to " Metapan " s SOS . Even though the ship was resting on the bottom and the passengers in no immediate danger , most of the 78 passengers and 90 crewmen evacuated the ship in lifeboats and were picked up by rescue craft . " Iowan " , which suffered no casualties among her crew , attempted to return to her pier in Brooklyn , but was unable and instead anchored in Ambrose Channel . " Iowan " s damage was restricted to her bow , which was crushed above the waterline . Two days later , " The Wall Street Journal " reported that " Iowan " was anchored off Clifton , Staten Island , and awaiting inspection from surveyors . After repairs and return to service , " Iowan " resumed her inter - coastal service . In May 1915 , she was delayed by a large Pacific storm that was responsible for the sinking of the steamer " Victoria " , and also damaged and . In mid - September the same year , " Iowan " sailed from Boston for the West Coast . She arrived at Cristóbal , the Atlantic terminus of the Panama Canal , to find the canal closed by a major landslide — more than of mud and dirt had collapsed into the Gaillard Cut . Initially , American - Hawaiian had " Iowan " wait in case the canal would soon reopen , but when it became apparent that the closure would last some time , perhaps as long as ten months , " Iowan " was sent around South America to her destinations , Los Angeles and San Francisco . The " Los Angeles Times " reported that one portion of " Iowan " s delayed cargo consisted of Christmas toys for Los Angeles merchants . The newspaper went on to predict that the delay would be " very disastrous " for the holiday season . The balance of " Iowan " s activities over the next two years are unclear . She may have been in the half of the American - Hawaiian fleet that was chartered for transatlantic service . She may also have been in the group of American - Hawaiian ships chartered for service to South America , delivering coal , gasoline , and steel in exchange for coffee , nitrate s , cocoa , rubber , and manganese ore . World War I . On 23 December 1917 , some seven months after the United States declared war on Germany , the United States Navy acquired " Iowan " from American - Hawaiian . USS " Iowan " was commissioned the same day with Lieutenant Commander Frank L . Dow , , in command . " Iowan " loaded a cargo of 800 horses , along with flour , iron , and machinery at Newport News , Virginia and sailed for New York on 9 February 1918 . There she joined a convoy that sailed for France on 11 February and arrived at its destination on 28 February ; " Iowan " discharged her equine passengers — less seven that died or were destroyed during the voyage — at Remount Depot No . 3 on 5 March . " Iowan " continued carrying livestock and food products to France through the rest of the war . On 9 November , " Iowan " took on 72 officers and men , and headed for France with cargo ship two days before the Armistice . With the fighting at an end , the task of bringing home American soldiers began almost immediately . " Iowan " was selected for conversion to a troop transport and transferred to the Cruiser and Transport Force , but before she could begin returning troops , " Iowan " had to undergo conversion from a cargo and animal ship . Though sources do not indicate the specific modifications " Iowan " underwent , typical conversions for other ships included the installation of berths for troops , and adding greatly expanded cooking and toilet facilities to handle the large numbers of men aboard . Similar modifications on " Iowan " s sister ship took three months , but it is not known how long " Iowan " s refit took . By the time " Iowan " had completed her sixth and final trooping voyage on 29 August 1919 , " Iowan " had carried home 9 , 876 healthy and wounded men . USS " Iowan " was decommissioned on 22 September 1919 , and returned to American - Hawaiian . Interwar years . " Iowan " resumed cargo service with American - Hawaiian after her return from World War I service . Though the company had abandoned its original Hawaiian sugar routes by this time , " Iowan " continued inter - coastal service through the Panama Canal . For a time in the early 1920s , " Iowan " was chartered to the United American Line . In May 1922 , the Associated Press reported that " Iowan " , sailing under the United American banner , was loading wheat , flour , and lumber at Tacoma , Washington , for England and European ports . Later that same month , on 29 May , " Iowan " rammed and sank the Furness - Prince Line cargo ship " Welsh Prince " in the Columbia River near Astoria , Oregon . Seven men aboard " Welsh Prince " were killed and three were injured in the crash and subsequent fire . On 11 June 1941 , " Iowan " departed Los Angeles with a cargo of of steel and iron pipe destined for San Francisco ; Portland , Oregon ; and Seattle , on her last voyage before she was to be handed over to the United States Maritime Commission . At 04 : 20 on 12 June , " Iowan " ran aground on a reef a few hundred yards ( meters ) off shore from Government Point , — northwest of Los Angeles , — near Point Conception . Salvage operations took some two weeks , but the ship was towed back to Los Angeles and placed in drydock at the Bethlehem Shipyard on Terminal Island . Approximately of the ship ' s hull had been damaged while the ship was buffeted by waves on the reef , which had opened numerous holes in her hull . The ship ' s drive shaft had broken , and her boilers and engines had shifted . The " Los Angeles Times " reported that estimates for " Iowan " s repair ranged up to $ 500 , 000 . In an inquiry held by the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation , " Iowan " s captain , S . A . Gates , a Californian with 25 years of sailing experience along the coast , blamed unusual tides for the grounding . World War II and later career . In 1942 , after " Iowan " was repaired and after the United States had entered World War II , the ship was requisitioned by the War Shipping Administration ( WSA ) . On 6 December 1942 , " Iowan " was transferred to the Soviet Union under Lend - Lease , and renamed " Tashkent " ( " Ташкент " ) after the capital of Uzbekistan . Near the end of World War II , the WSA offered a payment of $ 694 , 743 to American - Hawaiian for the former " Iowan " as part of a $ 7 . 2 million settlement for eleven American - Hawaiian ships that had been requisitioned by the WSA . " Tashkent " was assigned to the Far East Shipping Company ( ) , but sailed with the Pacific Fleet of the Soviet Navy throughout the war . " Tashkent " was photographed at San Francisco at some point during the war , but most of her other movements are not known . However , in August 1945 , " Tashkent " delivered troops and cargo in support of the Soviet invasions of Japanese - held Manchuria , Korea , Sakhalin , and the Kurile Islands . After the war ' s end , " Tashkent " returned to merchant operation with through 1966 , when she was transferred to North Korea for use as a fish processing facility . The former " Tashkent " was scrapped in 1969 .