# USS Federal

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**USS *Federal* (ID 3657)** was a [freighter](/source/Cargo_ship) acquired by the [U.S. Navy](/source/U.S._Navy) during [World War I](/source/World_War_I). She was completed at the end of the war and supplied Allied troops in Europe with food and horses, and, on return trips to the United States, brought troops back home. After three round [transatlantic](/source/Transatlantic_crossing) trips in supporting the troops, she was returned to the [U.S. Shipping Board](/source/U.S._Shipping_Board), which eventually sold her in 1937. She then became the British freighter *Federlock* which was captured in 1941 by the [Japanese](/source/Empire_of_Japan), who renamed the ship the *Hakusan Maru*. The ship sailed carrying Japanese cargo until sunk by an American [submarine](/source/Submarine) in 1945.

## Constructed in Kearny, New Jersey

*Federal*, a 6,868-gross register ton (13,130 tons displacement) freighter, was built at [Kearny, New Jersey](/source/Kearny,_New_Jersey), as part of the World War I shipbuilding effort. Completed on 11 November 1918, the day the [Armistice](/source/Armistice) ended the fighting, the new ship was turned over to the Navy and commissioned as USS *Federal* (ID # 3657) on 15 November. She was commissioned the following day.

## World War I service

### Carrying food and horses to the Allied troops

Operated by the [Naval Overseas Transportation Service](/source/Naval_Overseas_Transportation_Service), and fitted out to carry horses, she made her maiden round-trip voyage between late November 1918 and late January 1919, carrying cargo, including horses, to [France](/source/France) and from there back to the United States.

In March 1919 *Federal* sailed again with cargo for France and on her return voyage in April brought home over 500 [U.S. Army](/source/U.S._Army) medical personnel. On her third voyage, in May and June 1919, she transported hay and oats to [Antwerp](/source/Antwerp), Belgium, for the [Northern Food Administration](/source/Northern_Food_Administration) and brought a cargo of steel billets back to [New York City](/source/New_York_City).

## Post-war decommissioning

USS *Federal* was decommissioned on 17 June 1919 and returned to the [U.S. Shipping Board](/source/U.S._Shipping_Board).

## Subsequent history

*Federal* remained in the hands of the U.S. Shipping Board until 1937, then became the British cargo ship *Federlock*. In December 1941, while on time charter to a Japanese ship operator, she was seized by [Japan](/source/Japan) at the beginning of [World War II](/source/World_War_II) in the [Pacific](/source/Pacific_War), becoming *Hakusan Maru*.

*Hakusan Maru* landed 550 members of the [Imperial Japanese Navy](/source/Imperial_Japanese_Navy)'s [Maizuru](/source/Maizuru) [Special Naval Landing Force](/source/Special_Naval_Landing_Force) on [Kiska](/source/Kiska) in the [Aleutian Islands](/source/Aleutian_Islands) in June 1942 at the beginning of the [Aleutian Islands campaign](/source/Aleutian_Islands_campaign).[1] Later in the war, she took survivors from the shipwreck of *Asaka Maru* from [Taiwan](/source/Taiwan) to [Moji](/source/Moji-ku,_Kitaky%C5%ABsh%C5%AB) on [Kyushu](/source/Kyushu), arriving on 28 August 1944.

She was reportedly lost to a [torpedo](/source/Torpedo) from the American [submarine](/source/Submarine) [USS *Crevalle*](/source/USS_Crevalle_(SS-291)) on 11 June 1945.

## References

1. Morison, Samuel Eliot, *History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Volume IV: Coral Sea, Midway, and Submarine Actions, May 1942–August 1942*, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, pp. 172–173.

- [USS Federal (ID # 3657), 1918-1919. Originally, and later, S.S. Federal (1918)](http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-f/id3657.htm) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20080308090336/http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-f/id3657.htm) 8 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [USS Federal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Federal) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Federal?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.