USS Zuiderdijk

The ship as Zuiderdijk
History
Name
  • 1912: Sharistan
  • 1912: Zuiderdijk
  • 1923: Misty Law
  • 1931: Edera
  • 1956: Frin
  • 1956 Mahfuz
Owner
  • 1912: Anglo-Algerian SS Co
  • 1912: Holland America Line
  • 1923: The Law Shipping Co
  • 1931: Achille Lauro
  • 1949: F Pittaluga fu Giacomo
  • 1956: Cia Mar Caribe SA
  • 1956: Linea Adriatico Golfo Persa
Operator
  • 1912: F Strick & Co
  • 1918: US Navy
  • 1923: T Law & Co
  • 1956: CA Petrousis
Port of registry
BuilderWm Gray & Co, West Hartlepool
Yard number805
Launched17 June 1912
CompletedJuly 1912
Acquiredby US government, 21 March 1918
Commissionedinto US Navy, 23 March 1918
Decommissionedfrom US Navy, 21 July 1919
Identification
FateScrapped in 1957
General characteristics
Typecargo ship
Tonnage5,208 GRT, 3,257 NRT, 8,075 DWT
Length
  • 412.0 ft (125.6 m) overall
  • 400.0 ft (121.9 m) registered
Beam53.5 ft (16.3 m)
Draught24 ft 1 in (7.34 m)
Depth27.1 ft (8.3 m)
Decks2
Installed power602 NHP, 3,600 ihp
Propulsion
Speed12 knots (22 km/h)
Capacity384,000 cubic feet (10,874 m3) grain, 356,000 cubic feet (10,081 m3) bale
Complementin US Navy, 124
Armament
  • in US Navy:
  • 1 × 4-inch (100 mm) gun
Notessister ships: Arabistan (1912), Arabistan (1913)

USS Zuiderdijk was a cargo ship that was built in England in 1912 as Sharistan, but was renamed Zuiderdijk later that year when she changed owners. She was USS Zuiderdijk with the Naval Registry Identification Number ID-2724, from 1918 until 1919. She was renamed Misty Law in 1923, Edera in 1931, Frin in 1956 and Mahfuz later in 1956.

As USS Zuiderdijk she made five return voyages across the North Atlantic and back: three before the Armistice of 11 November 1918, and two afterward. She also made two Caribbean voyages to and from the Panama Canal, one of which took her to Ecuador.

Her total career as a cargo ship lasted 45 years. She passed through Welsh, Dutch, Scots, Italian and Greek management, and was registered in the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Italy and Costa Rica. She survived both World Wars, and she was scrapped in Italy in 1957.