SS President Cleveland (1947)

For other ships of the same name, see SS President Cleveland.
Career (USA)
Name: SS President Cleveland
Namesake: Grover Cleveland
Operator: American President Lines
Route: Trans-Pacific
Builder: Bethlehem Shipbuilding Co, Alameda, California
Yard number: 9509
Laid down: 28 August 1944
Launched: 23 June 1946
Completed: 1947
Identification: Official number: 254296
Fate: scrapped 1974
General characteristics [1]
Tonnage:15,359 GT
10,431 DWT
Displacement:23,504 long tons (23,881 t)
Length:609 ft 6 in (185.78 m) o/a
573 ft (175 m) p/p
Beam:75 ft 6 in (23.01 m)
Draft:30 ft 2 in (9.19 m)
Installed power:20,000 hp (14,914 kW)
Propulsion:turbo-electric transmission;
twin screw
Speed:20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Capacity:579 passengers (379 first class, 200 economy class)
193,984 cubic feet (5,493 m3) cargo
Notes:sister ship: SS President Wilson

SS President Cleveland was an American passenger ship originally ordered by the Maritime Commission during World War II, as one of the Admiral-class Type P2-SE2-R1 transport ships, and intended to be named USS Admiral D. W. Taylor (AP-128).[1] The ship was laid down on 28 August 1944 at the Bethlehem Steel shipyard in Alameda, California, but was cancelled on 16 December 1944.[2]

Redesigned for passenger service long before, she was launched on 23 June 1946 as President Cleveland,[3] completed in 1947, and bareboat chartered to American President Lines.[4]

One of the ship's most famous passengers was the Nobel Prize–winning author Sigrid Undset, who fled the Nazi's by travelling across Russia and sailed to the USA on the President Cleveland.[5]

She was sold to Oceanic Cruise Development, Inc. (C.Y. Tung Group) on 9 February 1973, and renamed Oriental President. The ship was scrapped at Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in 1974.[1]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "APL: History - 1944-52 SS President Cleveland". apl.com. 2012. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
  2. ↑ "Admiral D. W. Taylor". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History & Heritage Command. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
  3. ↑ "Bethlehem Launches the President Wilson" (PDF). Pacific Marine Review (San Francisco, California: Pacific American Steamship Association): 33–37. January 1947. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
  4. ↑ "Proposed Work on the S.S. President Cleveland and S.S. President Wilson". General Accounting Office. October 20, 1952. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
  5. ↑ Montreal Gazette Aug 27, 1940, p. 11.