USS Virginian was a United States Navy tug in commission from 1918 to 1919.

SS Virginian prior to her U.S. Navy service.
History
United States
NameUSS Virginian
NamesakePrevious name retained
Completed1904
AcquiredProbably late 1917
CommissionedProbably early 1918
Stricken12 May 1919
FateReturned to owner 12 May 1919
NotesServed as commercial tug SS Blue Bell[1] or SS Blue Belle[2][3] and SS Virginian 1904-1917 and as SS Virginian from 1919
General characteristics
TypeCargo ship
Tonnage179 register tons
Length90 ft 0 in (27.43 m)
Beam21 ft 0 in (6.40 m)
Draft7 ft 9 in (2.36 m) (mean)
PropulsionSteam engine
Speed8 knots
Complement15

Virginian was built as the commercial tug Blue Bell[1] or Blue Belle[2][3] in 1904 at Camden, New Jersey. She subsequently was renamed SS Virginian. The U.S. Navy acquired her for World War I service from her owner, the Southern Transportation Company, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania probably sometime in late 1917. The Navy apparently commissioned her sometime in early 1918 as USS Virginian.

Virginian served as a tug in the 5th Naval District—probably at Norfolk, Virginia, through the end of World War I and into the early months of 1919.

On 12 May 1919, Virginian was returned to the Southern Transportation Company and her name was stricken from the Navy List.

Unlike most commercial ships commissioned into U.S. Navy service during World War I, Virginian never received a naval registry Identification Number (Id. No.).

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