USS West Corum
Will H. Point, seen here in August 1943, was a United States Army transport ship during World War II. The ship was previously named West Corum. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| United States | |
| Name | USS West Corum (ID-3982) |
| Builder | |
| Yard number | 13 |
| Launched | 2 January 1919 |
| Completed | February 1919 |
| Acquired | 10 February 1919 |
| Commissioned | 10 February 1919 |
| Decommissioned | 9 June 1919 |
| Fate | Returned to USSB |
| History | |
| Name | SS West Corum |
| Owner | 1919: USSB |
| Acquired | Returned from US Navy, 9 June 1919 |
| Identification | US Official number: 2217533 |
| Fate | Transferred to the U.S. Army |
| United States | |
| Name |
|
| Acquired | November 1940 |
| Fate | Sold for scrapping, July 1948 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Design 1013 ship |
| Tonnage | 5,795 GRT |
| Displacement | 12,424 t |
| Length | |
| Beam | 54 ft (16.5 m) |
| Draft | 24 ft (7.3 m) (mean) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h) |
| Complement | 82 (as USS West Corum, 1919) |
| Armament | |
USS West Corum (ID-3982) was a cargo ship for the United States Navy in 1919. The ship was built as SS West Corum and reverted to that name at the end of her Navy service. During World War II, the ship was United States Army transport ship USAT West Corum, later renamed to Will H. Point (sometimes listed as William H. Point).
SS West Corum was a steam-powered ship built for the United States Shipping Board (USSB) as part of the West boats, a series of steel-hulled cargo ships built on the West Coast of the United States for the World War I war effort. She was the 13th ship built by Columbia River Shipbuilding Company in Portland, Oregon. She was commissioned into the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS) of the United States Navy in January 1919. After one overseas trips for the Navy, she was decommissioned in May 1919 and returned to the USSB.
Early in her civilian career, she sailed between New York City and Bordeaux, but later shifted to sailing to Antwerp. For most of the 1920s, West Corum sailed to Argentine ports. By 1939, West Corum had been laid up in New Orleans. In 1940, she was reconditioned, transferred to the United States Army, and renamed USAT Will H. Point. During World War II, the ship sailed primarily in the Pacific Ocean, calling at ports in Australia, Alaska, and the U.S. West Coast. Will H. Point was laid up in the reserve fleet in Astoria, Oregon, in January 1947 and sold for scrapping in July of that same year.