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Page 6 text:
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OUR PREDECESSORS LSD - 39 is the fifth U.S. Navy ship to bear the proud name of MOUNT VERNON. Her four predecessors all served with distinction in times of conflict, dating back to the Civil War. The first MOUNT VERNON was a wooden screw merchant steamer built in 1859. She was purchased by the Navy Department in 1861 and fitted out as a gunboat. In just over two years of blockade duty. MOUNT VERNON captured or ran aground more than a dozen Confederate and British vessels. Among her memorable exploits was participation in the attacks on the Confederate stronghold of Fort Fisher near Wilmington. North Carolina. The fall of this fort in January of 1865 hastened the end of the Civil War. as this was the last Confederate port by which supplies from Europe could reach General Lee ' s troops at Richmond. The second MOUNT VERNON was also in the Civil War. She was a side ■ wheel river steamer fitted out as a gunboat for defense of Washington. DC. and served in the Potomac Flotilla of Commander James H. Ward, the first naval officer to lose his life in the Civil War. In November. 1861. the name of this ship was changed to MOUNT WASHINGTON to avoid confusion with the first MOUNT VERNON. The third MOUNT VERNON was originally named the CROWN PRINCESS CECILIE built in 1907 in Germany for the North German Lloyd Lines, she was the pride of the luxury liners of her time. She departed New York July 28, 1914, with a full passenger list and gold bullion for the English and French banks. The next week was full of drama, commencing with wireless orders from Bremen for the liner to reverse course and seek a neutral United States port. Under cover of daytime fog, the liner repainted funnels to resemble the colors of a White Star Liner. She was completely concealed by the night as all portholes were covered and no light on board was visible. She made top speed through fog and darkness to elude four British cruisers sent to intercept her. On August 4, CROWN PRINCESS CECILIE, safely entered Bar Harbor, Maine. During succeeding days her passengers traveled to Boston and New York in special trains. A Gold Train with armed guard and crew transferred the 10.700,000 dollars in gold bullion to New York. On November 6, 1914, CROWN PRINCESS CECILIE was escorted from Bar Harbor for internment in Boston Harbor. When it became apparent that the U.S. would enter World War I, the German crew wrecked her engines, and numerous name plates in the engine room was mutilated, removed or exchanged. Upon declaration of war, the liner was transferred to Navy custody for service as a troop transport. The colossal repair and conversion was completed in a little over three months, and the former German liner was commissioned USS MOUNT VERNON on July 28, 1917. By August of 1918, MOUNT VERNON had made nine troop • lifts between New York and Brest, France. Departing again from Brest in September, she was 200 miles off the French coast when on Setember 5, her
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Page 7 text:
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number one guncrew spotted the periscope of a German submarine 500 yards off her starboard bow. She opened fire on the submarine and it submerged as a torpedo wake streaked toward the ship The torpedo struck amidships, blowing out all four engines on the starboard side, which formed half her total power plant. The transport reversed course for Brest, where she was placed in drydock for temporary repairs. The torpedo explosion had taken the lives of 36 men and injured 3 others. MOUNT VERNON returned to Boston for permanent repairs, which were still underway when the war ended in November 1918. She had transported 33.660 men to France during her combat career. She rejoined the transport service in February 1919. and returned 42.500 veterans home from France before decommis- sioning in September 1919. The fourth MOUNT VERNON was built in 1933 as the spacious liner SS WASHINGTON and operated by the United States Lines. Upon being acquired by the Navy on 16 June 1941 she was placed in the Philadelphia Navy yard where her 100 dollar a day suites were stripped and replaced with many steel bunks. In August 1941 she put to sea and during World War II served gallantly both in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. On 18 January 1946 after transporting thousands of troops throughout the world MOUNT VERNON was decommissioned and delivered to the U.S. Maritime Commission The latest MOUNT VERNON bears a proud name, one famous not only in American Naval Annals but also one of a legendary estate, rich in American Heritage. This legacy represents a challenge to the fifth United States ship MOUNT VERNON embarking on her life with the Fleet today.
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