USS Blue Ridge (ID-2432)

Blue Ridge was originally constructed as the Great Lakes passenger steamer Virginia built by Globe Iron Works at Cleveland, Ohio.

In 1893, during the Chicago World's Fair, the ship and the whaleback steamer SS Christopher Columbus competed against each other in races.

Virginia was purchased on 19 April 1918 for use as a Navy transport at Manitowoc, Wisconsin once America entered World War I.

During World War II, Avalon served as a transport in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The ship returned to the Catalina–Los Angeles run in 1946 and remained in this service until laid up at the Catalina Island Terminal on 12 February 1951.

USS Blue Ridge (ID-2432) Wearing camouflage paint and with her bow removed for passage through the locks between the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River, circa summer 1918.