SS American ( 1900 ) SS " American was a steel - hulled , single propeller cargo ship built at Chester , Pennsylvania , by the Delaware River Iron Shipbuilding and Engine Works for the American - Hawaiian Steamship Company and the Hawaiian sugar trade . During World War I service for the United States Navy , the ship was known as USS " American " ( ID - 2292 ) . Late in her career for American - Hawaiian , she was renamed SS " Honolulan . " American " was a little more than long and abeam . Coal - fired boilers powered a single triple - expansion steam engine which turned a single screw propeller . This power plant — supplemented with auxiliary sails — was capable of moving the ship at up to . As one of the first four ships ordered by the American - Hawaiian Steamship Company after its 1899 formation , " American " was used on the Hawaii – New York sugar trade via the Straits of Magellan . In 1901 she set a record for the fastest New York – San Francisco ocean passage , making the voyage in 59 days . After 1905 , she was employed in inter - coastal service via the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and , after it opened in 1914 , the Panama Canal . Taken up for wartime service after the United States entered World War I in April 1917 , she completed two round - trip voyages to France without incident . Shortly after the start of her third such voyage , however , she collided with another U . S . Navy vessel , , sinking that vessel with the loss of seven of her crew in October 1918 . She completed one more round trip in U . S . Navy service , sailing to Gibraltar after the Armistice in November . She returned to New York in February 1919 , was decommission ed , and returned to American - Hawaiian . SS " American " resumed cargo service with American - Hawaiian after her return from naval service , being renamed " Honolulan " in 1925 . She was sold in 1926 and taken to Osaka where she was broken up sometime after her arrival there in November that same year . Design and construction . The American - Hawaiian Steamship Company , shortly after its March 1899 formation , placed orders for its first four ships for the company ' s planned sugar service between Hawaii and the East Coast of the United States . Three ships — " American " , , and — were ordered from Delaware River Shipbuilding in Chester , Pennsylvania , while the fourth — — was ordered from Union Iron Works of San Francisco . The contract cost of the three Pennsylvania - built ships was set at $ 425 , 000 each , but financing costs drove the final cost of each ship higher ; the final cost of " American " was $ 61 . 00 per deadweight ton , which totaled just under $ 540 , 000 . " American " ( Delaware River yard no . 308 ) was launched on 14 July 1900 , and delivered to American - Hawaiian in October , joining " Californian " in the American - Hawaiian Fleet . " American " , the first of the trio of Pennsylvania ships to be completed , was , and was in length and abeam . She had a deadweight tonnage of , and her cargo holds had a storage capacity of . " American " had a speed of , and was powered by a single triple - expansion steam engine with coal - fired boilers , that drove a single screw propeller . " American " and her sister ships , equipped with two upright masts , carried and used two large trysail s , a fore staysail and jib , and a main staysail , to help conserve coal for their journeys . Early career . At the start of her American - Hawaiian career , " American " sailed in scheduled service from New York and Philadelphia around South America via the Straits of Magellan , up to San Francisco and from there to Honolulu . Along the way , she was refueled with coal at Saint Lucia in the British West Indies and at Coronel in Chile . The Chilean coal was often of lesser quality which burned too quickly and dangerously sent sparks flying from the ship ' s funnel ; the quality and fire danger were key reasons that all subsequent American - Hawaiian ships used oil instead of coal for fuel . The early American - Hawaiian voyages averaged about 70 days in each direction from New York to San Francisco , which was about 55 days shorter than the typical time required for sailing ships . Insurers initially made the company pay a 6 % premium for taking its large ships through the treacherous channel in the Straits of Magellan , rather than the safer passage around Cape Horn . But by 1903 , American - Hawaiian ' s safe operation and experience on the route allowed the company to negotiate a 3½ % rate , just a ½ % surcharge over the standard rate of 3 % . The experience on the route also paid off in shorter transit times : " American " set a record time with a 59 - day New York - to - San Francisco passage in 1901 . However , typical times for the trip were just over 50 days by 1903 . In May 1905 , after two years of negotiations , American - Hawaiian signed a contract with the Tehuantepec National Railway of Mexico , abandoning the Straits of Magellan route in favor of the Tehuantepec Route . Shipments on the Tehuantepec Route would arrive at Mexican ports — Salina Cruz , Oaxaca , for eastbound cargo , and Coatzacoalcos , Veracruz , for westbound cargo — and would traverse the Isthmus of Tehuantepec , Mexico ' s narrowest point , on the railroad . Eastbound shipments were primarily sugar and pineapple from Hawaii , while westbound cargoes were more general in nature . After the United States occupation of Veracruz on 21 April 1914 ( which found six American - Hawaiian ships in Mexican ports ) , the Huerta - led Mexican government closed the Tehuantepec National Railway to American shipping . This loss of access , coupled with the fact that the Panama Canal was not yet open , caused American - Hawaiian to return to its historic route of sailing around South America via the Straits of Magellan in late April . With the opening of the Panama Canal on 15 August , American - Hawaiian ships switched to taking that route . In October 1915 , landslides closed the Panama Canal and all American - Hawaiian ships , including " American " , returned to the Straits of Magellan route again . " American " s exact movements from this time through early 1917 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 . However , when the United States entered World War I in April 1917 , the entire American - Hawaiian fleet , including " American " , was requisitioned by the , which then returned the ships for operation by American - Hawaiian . U . S . Navy service . In May 1918 , the selected " American " for service carrying United States Army cargo to France as a part of the U . S . Navy ' s . On 22 May , " American " was turned over to the Navy and assigned the identification number of 2292 . She was commissioned as USS " American " on 25 May with Lieutenant Commander ( Lt . Cdr . ) Myron P . Schermerhorn , , in command . One week later , " American " , loaded with cargo , departed New York and joined up with an eastbound convoy on 2 June , reaching : Brest , France , on 17 June . She sailed to Bordeaux via La Pallice to unload , and departed on 6 July , reaching New York 16 days later . After a quick turnaround , " American " sailed for Bordeaux again on 5 August and had arrived back at New York on 6 September . Collision with " West Gate " . On 4 October , " American " began her third trip to France in a convoy escorted by the cruiser and headed to Bordeaux . On the night of 6 / 7 October — noted in the " Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships " as " particularly dark and rainy " — the ships were having trouble maintaining their stations in the convoy ; " American " was sailing in the column headed by the convoy ' s guide ship , . At 02 : 28 on 7 October , while about south of Halifax , the steering gear engine of — ahead and to the starboard of " American " — jammed , sending the ship veering sharply to the port . " West Gate " s crew put the ship ' s engine at half speed to try to drop out of the convoy , but minutes later , men on the bridge sighted the red light from the oncoming " American " . Though " West Gate " s bridge rang up " full speed ahead " to avoid the collision , there was not enough time for the engine to respond before " American " s bow cut into the starboard side of " West Gate " , near the poop deck . " American " , which was lightly damaged by the collision , reversed her engine to back out of the tangle while " West Gate " s engine was shut down . After " American " was completely backed out , " West Gate " began rapidly settling and was ordered abandoned . A total of seven men from " West Gate " died in the accident — two when their lifeboat capsized , and a further five that probably died in the initial impact . " West Gate " s commanding officer , Lt . Cdr . R . B . Vandervoort , and six men he had personally escorted to a life raft were picked up by one of " American " s lifeboats at 06 : 00 , after some 3½ hours in the water . The " Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships " does not report any casualties on " American " from the collision . " American " proceeded to Halifax , where she had her collision damage repaired over the next six weeks . She departed for Gibraltar on 27 November , a little more than two weeks after the signing of the Armistice with Germany that ended the fighting . After calling at that British port on 9 December , " American " docked at Marseilles , before leaving for New York in the new year , arriving there on 9 February 1919 . " American " was decommission ed and returned to American - Hawaiian on 4 March , and formally struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 14 May . Later career . " American " 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 , " American " sailed in inter - coastal service through the Panama Canal . In June 1925 , American - Hawaiian announced its intent to acquire six steamers from W . R . Grace and Company . Later in the year , " American " was renamed " Honolulan " in order to free her name for the newly acquired . In 1926 , " Honolulan " was sold for scrap . She was taken to Osaka , Japan , and was broken up some time after her arrival there in November that same year .