1,612 Net registered tons The steamship Detroit Wayne was steel-hulled freighter built for the United States Shipping Board in 1919.

In 1940, Detroit Wayne was sold to private interests, renamed Raritan, and converted back into a freighter.

When the United States entered World War I in April 1917, neither it nor any allied power had shipping capacity to carry the two million Americans who sailed for Europe, much less all their accompanying armament and supplies.

Her name was changed to honor Detroit and Wayne County for oversubscribing to all of the Liberty Loan bond issues which funded America's World War I spending.

[3] After delivery to the Shipping Board, Detroit Wayne made her way through the Great Lakes to the Atlantic, passing through the Lachine Canal on 23 June 1920,[8] and arriving at Portland, Maine on 17 July 1920.

The Shipping Board consigned Detroit Wayne to the Clyde Steamship Company, which placed her in trans-Atlantic service.

On 29 August 1920 she left Philadelphia for Genoa, Italy with stops in Marseilles, and Port St. Louis du Rhone.

[20] In December 1921, the Shipping Board executed a bareboat charter agreement with Halschaw Steamship Line, Incorporated.

[21][22] Halschaw failed to fund the surety bond required by the Shipping Board and litigation ensued.

[24] The boilers, winches, and other equipment were removed from Lake Fenn and installed on Detroit Wayne to convert her from a freighter into an agitator dredge for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

[25] The Maryland Drydock Company, Incorporated submitted the low bid of $154,000 for the project and was awarded the contract.

[26] The two ships were towed from James River to the Maryland Drydock Company shipyard in Baltimore, arriving on 7 July 1932.

[28] The conversion was designed by U.S. Army Captain H. B. Vaughn, jr.[29] The two boilers on Lake Fenn were removed and installed on Detroit Wayne to provide additional steam for engines which drove the dredge pumps.

Under certain conditions, this allowed the power of the river itself to erode the newly-exposed stream bed into a deeper channel.

In October, the ship stopped in at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard to have her drag arms unshipped and placed on deck for the voyage to her new home port.

The ship was advised to stay close to shore due to the U-boat threat, but the night was stormy and the crew were unsure of their position.