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UNITED STATES NAVY
TEMPORARY AUXILIARY SHIPS
WORLD WAR I

Photo # NH 43286: USS Santa Paula arrives in New York Harbor after a voyage from France, 1919

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Santa Paula (ID # 1590), 1918-1919.
Originally, and later, S.S. Santa Paula (1917)

USS Santa Paula, a 13,000-ton (displacement) cargo ship and troop transport, was built at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1917 as the 6415 gross ton freighter of the same name. She was acquired by the U.S. Navy, via charter, in August 1918, placed in commission, and assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service. Between then and mid-January 1919, Santa Paula completed two round-trip voyages between the East Coast and France.

Santa Paula was then transferred to the Cruiser and Transport Force and converted to a troop transport. Beginning in March 1919, she made four trips from France to the U.S. to bring home American service personnel from the former World War I battle zone. A few weeks after this duty ended in early August 1919, USS Santa Paula was decommissioned and returned to her owners, W.R. Grace & Company of New York City.

S.S. Santa Paula had nearly two and a half decades of subsequent commercial employment. She became the American Hawaiian Steamship Company's Montanan in 1925 and on 3 June 1943 was sunk in the Indian Ocean by the Japanese submarine I-27.

This page features, and provides links to, all available views concerning USS Santa Paula (ID # 1590) and the civilian freighter Santa Paula of 1917.

For more images related to this ship, see:

  • USS Santa Paula (ID # 1590) -- On Board and Close Up Views, and
  • USS Santa Paula (ID # 1590) -- Views Taken from the Ship.


    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: NH 65060

    S.S. Santa Paula     (American Freighter, 1917)

    Photographed by her builder, the William Cramp & Sons Ship & Engine Building Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, probably when first completed.
    Owned by W.R. Grace & Company of New York, this steamer was acquired by the Navy on 14 August 1918 and placed in commission three days later as USS Santa Paula (ID # 1590). She was decommissioned and returned to her owner on 21 August 1919.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 58KB; 740 x 535 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 103310

    USS Santa Paula     (ID # 1590)

    Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken in 1919, showing the ship in harbor after conversion to a transport.
    This image is one of ten photographs published in a "Souvenir Folder" of views concerning USS Santa Paula.

    Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2005.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 83KB; 740 x 505 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 43286

    USS Santa Paula     (ID # 1590)

    Arrives in New York Harbor after a voyage from France, circa April-August 1919. Her decks and rigging are crowded with troops.

    Photograph received from the Caraway Company, Rutterford, New Jersey, 10 August 1936.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 44KB; 740 x 525 pixels

     
    Photo #: None

    USS Santa Paula     (ID # 1590)

    Photographed circa June 1919 in the lock of the New Entrance at Saint Nazaire, France, with the outer lock gates and the Rolling Bridge in the foreground. A crew member, Francis Locke, wrote "We docked at high tide which was about 4 A.M. Troops started coming aboard immediately. We could not sail until high tide which was 5 P.M." After one more trooping voyage, to Brest, Santa Paula was decommissioned in August 1919.

    Source: www.flickr.com, posted by Bob Swanson.

     


    Related image: The official data card for Santa Paula (ID # 1590) features a photograph of S.S. Santa Barbara, which is described on the image as "sister ship to Santa Paula". This view is Photo # NH 65065.


    For more images related to this ship, see:

  • USS Santa Paula (ID # 1590) -- On Board and Close Up Views, and
  • USS Santa Paula (ID # 1590) -- Views Taken from the Ship.


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    Page made 19 March 2005
    Link added 4 May 2007