U.S.S. Herbert L. Pratt

The U.S.S. Herbert L. Pratt was completed in Alameda, California, in 1918. She was ordered delivered to the Navy but, while off Cape Henlopen, Delaware, on June 3rd 1918, she struck a mine laid by the German submarine U-151. Though her entire forward section was submerged, structural damage was apparently not too severe, as she was quickly salvaged and repaired. While this work was in process, the ship was placed in commission as U.S.S. Herbert L. Pratt in June 1918. At the end of July, she began her first Navy voyage, taking fuel oil to Brest, France, for use by the U.S. warships stationed there. She made a second trans-Atlantic trip, from New York to England and back October through December of 1918. U.S.S. Herbert L. Pratt was decommissioned in mid-January 1919 and returned to her owners, the Atlantic Refining Company. She had more than two-and-a-half decades of further commerical service, taking her through the Second World War. The old ship was placed in the War Shipping Administration's reserve fleet in February 1946 and sold for scrapping in December of that year.

• Length: 132.5 m (435 ft)
• Beam: 17.06 m (56 ft)
• Draft: 8.22 m (27 ft)
• Propulsion: One steam turbine engine, single screw, 2,600 horsepower
• Speed: 11 knots (12-13 Mph)
• Capacity: 7,150 tons
• Armament: One 6-pounder

Dominic Langiano (Born: 1923) was on this vessel working as a cook during World War II in August of 1943. The ship was traveling from New York to the port of Bizerte in Tunisia, Africa.