USS Oosterdijk was a Holland America Line cargo steamship that was built in 1913 and sank as a result of a collision in 1918. She served in the United States Navy, with the Naval Registry Identification Number ID–2586, from March 1918 until her loss that July. Some sources anglicise her name as Oosterdyk, but Lloyd's Register registered her with the Dutch spelling Oosterdijk.

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Oosterdijk in peacetime Holland America Line colours, without neutrality markings
History
Netherlands
Name	Oosterdijk
Namesake	Dutch for "East Dyke"
Owner	1913: Holland America Line 1918: NOTS
Operator	US Navy (1918)
Port of registry	Rotterdam
Builder	Irvine's Sb & DD, West Hartlepool
Yard number	522
Laid down	7 June 1912
Launched	21 February 1913
Completed	May 1913
Acquired	by US Govt, 21 March 1918
Commissioned	into US Navy, 2 April 1918
Refit	April 1918
Identification	code letters PNKL 1914: call sign PGX 1918: ID number ID–2586
Fate	Sank after collision, July 1918
General characteristics
Type	cargo ship
Tonnage	8,250 GRT, 5,226 NRT, 11,927 DWT
Displacement	11,900 tons
Length	450.4 ft (137.3 m)
Beam	55.0 ft (16.8 m)
Draft	31 ft 9 in (9.68 m)
Depth	38.7 ft (11.8 m)
Decks	2 + shelter deck
Installed power	755 NHP, 4,600 ihp
Propulsion	1 × screw 1 × quadruple-expansion engine
Speed	13 knots (24 km/h)
Capacity	610,000 cubic feet (17,000 m3) grain, 568,000 cubic feet (16,100 m3) bale
Complement	in US Navy, 107
Notes	sister ship: Westerdijk

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In 1912 and 1913 Irvine's Shipbuilding & Dry Docks Co Ltd built a pair of sister ships, with consecutive yard numbers, at its shipyard on the River Tees in West Hartlepool, County Durham, England, for the Nederlandsch-Amerikaansche Stoomvaart Maatschappij (NASM), known in English as "Holland America Line". Yard number 522 was laid down on 7 June 1912, launched on 21 February 1913 as Oosterdijk, and completed that May.^[1][2] Yard number 523 was laid down on 14 September 1912, launched on 7 May 1913 as Westerdijk, and completed that July.^[3][4]

Oosterdijk's registered length was 450.4 ft (137.3 m), her beam was 55.0 ft (16.8 m) and her depth was 38.7 ft (11.8 m).^[5] Her tonnages were 8,250 GRT, 5,226 NRT and 11,927 DWT. Her holds had capacity for 610,000 cubic feet (17,000 m³) of grain, or 568,000 cubic feet (16,100 m³) of baled cargo.^[1]

She had a single screw, driven by a four-cylinder quadruple-expansion steam engine built by Richardsons Westgarth & Company of Hartlepool. It was rated at 755 NHP^[5] or 4,600 ihp, and gave her a speed of 13 knots (24 km/h).^[1]

NASM registered Oosterdijk at Rotterdam. Her code letters were PNKL.^[5] She was equipped for wireless telegraphy. By 1914 her call sign was PGX.^[6]

On 20 March 1918 President Woodrow Wilson issued Proclamation 1436, authorising the seizure under angary of Dutch ships in US ports. The next day, the United States Customs Service seized Oosterdijk in Baltimore, Maryland. On 2 April she was commissioned into the United States Navy and assigned to the Naval Overseas Transport Service, with Lieutenant Commander Arthur H Webber as her commander.^[7]

Oosterdijk was refitted at Baltimore, loaded a cargo of general supplies, and then steamed to Norfolk, Virginia, where she loaded naval stores. She continued to New York, where she joined a convoy that left on 25 April for France. She called at Brest, and continued to Saint-Nazaire, where she discharged her general supplies and naval stores. Her return transatlantic crossing took 12 days, and she reached Baltimore on 21 June.^[7]