By Dominic Konareski
Voice Writer
West Haven has a deep-rooted history, from the red coats invading to even a famous amusement park. One of Connecticut’s oldest settlements is at the same time the state’s youngest town.
West Haven separated from Orange in 1921 and was incorporated as a city in 1961. But did you know that there is a U.S. Navy ship that bore the West Haven name long before 1961?
The modern-day Navy has a very particular ship naming system that comes from the Secretary of the Navy. The USN names their carriers after presidents, congress members and naval leaders.
Submarines are predominantly named after states. Destroyers get their names from deceased members of the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard.
Littoral Combat Ships are named after cities and towns, with Amphibious Assault Ships named after battles, early USN ships or even previous WWII-era aircraft carriers.
Go back a century and names were chosen much differentially, especially in World War One. The USS West Haven (ID-2159) was a steel-hulled cargo ship that was built in 1917 originally under the name War Flame. During the late stages of WWI in June of 1918, the Navy would commission the ship to transport Army supplies to France.
The 423-foot ship was built by Skinner & Eddy Corp., in Seattle, and was launched on Nov. 1, 1917, but would be acquired by the Navy on Christmas Eve of the same year. It would officially be commissioned by the Navy on June 18, 1918, which would see the ship officially renamed from War Flame to the USS West Haven, after briefly being just “West Haven.”
Overall, the USS West Haven had no direct affiliation with our West Haven, as during World War I the Navy’s shipping program designated cargo vessels with names starting with “West.”
Carrying general Army supplies, the West Haven would leave New Orleans to join a convoy in Norfolk, VA, to head to Europe. At this point in WWI, sailing across the Atlantic was still a dangerous task, but with the daily dismantling of German U-boats by late 1917-early 1918, gave a since of relief to allied crews.
West Haven would arrive at Bordeaux, France, on Aug. 12 and would later see the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor on the Sept. 5. Overall, the West Haven was able to make two-full roundtrips across the Atlantic before the war ended, with the ship and her crew sailing home on their second round-trip when the armistice was signed on Nov. 11, 1918.
Her duties were not done when the war ended though, as the West Haven would complete two relief missions post-war.
The final mission would see West Haven leave Brest, Germany, with 2,306 tons of captured German
ordnance, aviation supplies and 375 tons of steel rail ballast for the return journey in mid-April of 1919.
Once back, the USS West Haven was demobilized and officially decommissioned by the Navy on Jan.
21, 1920, and later sold.
Once sold, the ship would undergo multiple owners and names as a coastal freightliner. When unrest broke out again in Europe, the ship now named Onomea and owned by Marian Otis Chandler, was acquired by the British Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). The acquisition in 1940 was to help alleviate the shipping shortage caused by the powerful German U-Boats.
The ship would be renamed as the Empire Leopard and spent the next two years in service, completing five round trips between the United States and Britian.
Her final voyage saw the Leopard (West Haven) depart with 44 other merchant ships to Liverpool in what was part of Convoy SC 107 on Oct. 30.
Just days later on Nov. 2, the ship was struck by U-402, which had sunk numerous ships in the earlier
hours.
U-402 fi red two torpedoes at 8:03 a.m. with one hitting the Leopard, causing the ship to explode immediately.
Out of her 34 crew and 7 gunners, only 3 survived, marking the end to USS West Haven’s history being at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, some 500 miles east of Belle Isle.