A damaged photograph of SS Los Angeles in 1916 or 1917, prior to its U.S. Navy service.
History
United States
Name	USS Los Angeles
Namesake	Previous name retained
Builder	Union Iron Works, San Francisco, California
Completed	1916
Acquired	1917
Commissioned	9 August 1917
Decommissioned	17 January 1919
Fate	Returned to owner 17 January 1919
Notes	Operated commercially as SS Los Angeles 1916-1917 and 1919-1941 and as SS Toteco 1941-1966 Scrapped 1966
General characteristics
Type	Tanker
Tonnage	6,876 Gross register tons
Displacement	10,700 tons
Length	435 ft (133 m) between perpendiculars
Beam	56 ft (17 m)
Draft	27 ft (8.2 m)
Propulsion	Steam engine, one shaft
Speed	10 knots
Complement	72
Armament	1 × 5-inch (127-millimeter) gun 1 × 3-inch (76.2-millimeter) gun

The first USS Los Angeles (ID-1470) was a tanker that served in the United States Navy from 1917 to 1919.

SS Los Angeles was built by Union Iron Works at San Francisco, California, as a commercial tanker in 1916 for the Union Oil Company of California. The U.S. Navy acquired her from Union Oil in 1917 for World War I service under a bareboat charter, gave its the naval registry Identification Number (Id. No.) 1470, and commissioned its as USS Los Angeles on 9 August 1917 at New Orleans, Louisiana, with Lieutenant Commander Alexander Mackenzie . During the remainder of 1917, Los Angeles operated along the United States East Coast and United States Gulf Coast and made two cruises with the Atlantic Train Force.

On 9 January 1918, Los Angeles was assigned to duty with the Naval Overseas Transportation Service and, after loading cargo at New York City, departed New York on 15 January 1918 for the British Isles. It reached Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands on 4 February 1918, discharged its cargo there, and departed on 7 February 1918 for the United States East Coast, where it arrived on 27 February 1918.

On 4 March 1918, Los Angeles departed New York for Port Arthur, Texas. Arriving there on 10 March 1918, she loaded fuel oil before departing for Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 14 March 1918. It arrived at Hampton Roads on 20 March 1918, then departed on 21 March 1918 to join a convoy bound for Europe. Between 21 March 1918 and 10 November 1918, Los Angeles made four transatlantic runs out of United States East Coast ports, carrying fuel oil to Brest in France and to Portsmouth and Devonport in England.

During the latter part of November 1918, Los Angeles transported a cargo of fuel oil from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Cristóbal in the Panama Canal Zone. After loading crude oil at Tuxpan, Mexico, it returned to New York on 16 December 1918.

Los Angeles was decommissioned at New York on 17 January 1919 and was returned to Union Oil the same day.

The ship resumed commercial service as S.S. Los Angeles. It was renamed S.S. Toteco in 1941 and was scrapped in Mexico in 1966.

References

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• Department of the Navy: Naval Historical Center: Online Library of Selected Images: U.S. Navy Ships: USS Los Angeles (ID # 1470), 1917-1919. Originally, and later, S.S. Los Angeles (American Tanker, 1916). Later S.S. Toteco.
• NavSource Online: Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive Los Angeles (ID 1470)