USS Martha Washington and American Military Mission to Armenia

In 1919 President Woodrow Wilson sent two missions to the Near East to gather information on issues relating to the future of the region in the immediate aftermath of World War 1. One group, later known as the "King-Crane Commission", was civilian, centered on Constantinople, and tasked to interview community leaders and representatives of the Turkish government. In August 1919, a second group, the "American Military Mission to Armenia" was sent out to travel to the centre of Anatolia and then to Armenia. It was headed by Major General James G. Harbord [1]. Secretary of State Robert Lansing had instructed Harbord to "investigate and report on the political, military, geographic, administrative, economic, and such other considerations involved in possible American interests and responsibilities in the region"

The fifty-member mission arrived in Constantinople at the beginning of September 1919 on board USS Martha Washington, and then, over 30 days, went by train to Adana, then to Aleppo, and Mardin, then by motor car to Diyarbakir, Harput, Malatya, Sivas, Erzincan, Erzurum, Kars, Etchmiadzin, Erivan and, finally, Tiflis.

A side-expedition left the main party at Sivas in order to investigate conditions at Marsovan, Samsun, and along the Black Sea coast as far as Trebizond.

[1] James Guthrie Harbord (March 21, 1866 – August 20, 1947) was a Lieutenant General in the United States Army and President and Chairman of the Board of RCA.

Harbord Report (1920) as PDF 458KB from www.box.net
James G. Harbord CONDITIONS IN THE NEAR EAST: REPORT OF THE AMERICAN MILITARY MISSION TO ARMENIA

Mavi Boncuk

USS Martha Washington (ID‑3019) was a transport for the United States Navy during World War I named for Martha Washington, the first First Lady of the United States. She was originally ocean liner SS Martha Washington for the Austro-American Line before the war. Before and after her Navy service she was the United States Army transport USAT Martha Washington.

On her final voyage she arrived at Brest on 14 August and received new orders to transport an American relief mission to Turkey and Russia. Under the leadership of Major General James Harbord, U.S. Army, the mission spent the first two weeks in September at Constantinople and after arriving at Batum, Russia, on 18 September, spent the following three weeks there. In this period of civil turmoil, Martha Washington brought 324 Armenian and Polish refugees to Constantinople. Sailing for the United States on 15 October, she called at Malta, Marseille, and Brest before arriving at New York on the first anniversary of the Armistice signing. She was decommissioned on 18 November 1919 and was turned over to the War Department

The liner was sold to the Italian Cosulich Line in 1922. In 1932, when Cosulich was absorbed into Italia Flotte Riunite (English: United Fleets Italy), the ship was renamed SS Tel Aviv. The ship was scrapped in 1934.



USS Matha Washington inbound to Hampton Roads, Virginia, from Brest, France, 1918.