>Achernar- AKA-53
Artemis
II
(ScStr: dp. 17,837; 1. 500.5' (reg.); b. 58.3'; dr. 27'; s. 12 k.; cpl. 329; t. 4,000; a. none)
The second Artemis was originally built as the steel-hulled, twin-screw passenger steamship Iowa. Completed in 1902 at Belfast, Ireland, by Harland and Wolff, Ltd., Iowa was owned by the White Diamond Steamship Co., Ltd., and operated by George Warren and Co., of Liverpool, England, until aquire by the German Hamburg-America Line and renamed Boemia in 1912.
The outbreak of hostilities in Europe in the summer of 1914 stranded many German and Austrian ships-Bohemia among them-in American ports. Seized by American customs officials after the United States entered World War I in April 1917, Bohemia was renamed Artemis, armed with a main battery of one 5-inch and one 3-inch gun, and placed in service as an Armtransport. She served as USAT Artemis during World War I. Her battery was removed at Norfolk on 30 November 1918, and she completed her last voyage as an Army transport at New York on 23 February 1919.
Turned over to the Navy at Fletcher's Drydock in Hoboken, N. J., Artemis-given the identification number (Id. No.) 2187- commissioned there on 8 April 1919, Comdr. John P. Jackson in command. Assigned to the Cruiser and Transport Force, Artemis sailed for France on 25 April 1919, and reached St. Nazaire on 8 May. Sailing for Newport News-one of the four primary ports of debarkation for the Cruiser and Transport Force on the 11th, she arrived at her destination on 24 May; that same day to Norfolk, she commenced her second transatl antic voyage cycle on 1 June.
Besides her embarked returning doughboys, Artemis brought back a cargo of trucks to Newport News on her second voyage, arriving there on 26 June. Shifting to Norfolk the same day, the ship began her third round-trip voyage on 2 July, departing Norfolk for France. Arrivin at St. Nazaire on 15 July, Artemis moved to Brest soon thereafter, and began the return trip from that port on 21 July. Arriving at Norfolk on 3 August, via Newport News, the ship underwent voyage repair at Norfolk from 6 to 9 August. She sailed thence for an on the latter day on her last voyage as a naval vessel, reaching St. Nazaire on 21 August. Sailing for the United States on 12 September, Artemis arrived at New York on the morning of 23 September, mooring at pier 3, Army Base, Brooklyn. Shifting to steamship pier 2 Army Base, on 8 October, Artemis was decommissioned on 18 October 1919. During her career as a Navy transport, she had brought home 11,760 troops. Her name was struck from the Nav list on 18 October 1919, and the ship was transferred to the United States Shipping Board (USSB) for disposition.
The USSB's fourth annual report, for the fiscal year ending 30 June 1920, lists Artemis as being transferred to the France and Canada Steamship Corp. to be operated by that company, but this may never have come to pass, since contemporary merchant vessel registers refer only to her USSB ownership. Likewise, lists of ships operated by the France and Canada Steamship Co. do not contain Artemis. Laid up by 1923, Artemis remained inactive through the 1930's and into World War 11, in the hands of the USSB and its successor, the United States Maritime Commission. Acquired by the British Ministry of War Transport in 1941, the ship was renamed Empire Bittern. She remained under the British flag until expended as a blockship off the Normandy beaches in June 1944.