Talk:SS California (1927)

Untitled
my grandfather sailed on this ship during ww2, his name is danny marchbank, he took part in russian convoys, operation torch in n africa, and atlantic convoys, i will ask him to be sure but i think it may have been sunk during ww2. Before the war it was a very impressive looking ship, with trips to cuba pacific and atlantic cruises, we have photos of ship and things from pre war e.g. menus, ship advertising paper. will try to find out more. i am also sure the smithsonian has a model of the ship. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Trulystand700 (talk • contribs) 23:48, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

Date of renaming
The article states 1938, but Lloyds Register shows she was still named California as late as 1945/46. Should the date of renaming be 1948? Mjroots (talk) 12:32, 13 February 2012 (UTC)

USAT usage
This is an example of the sometimes blurred line of "USAT" that is not precise. The ship was not bareboat chartered nor crewed by the Army and thus does not meet the more accepted use of that designation. This, and other ships are explicitly excepted in official sources such as The Transportation Corps: Responsibilities, Organization, And Operations (Chester Wardlow, Center Of Military History, United States Army, 1999) with this on page 222: "The more exacting problems in connection with this combined use of shipping concerned troop transports, particularly the larger and faster vessels which ran without escorts and were moved freely from route to route according to the urgency of the needs. Among the vessels of this type in the British pool were the British liners Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, Aquitania, Mauretania, Empress of Scotland, and Andes, the French Ile de France and Pasteur, and the Dutch Nieuw Amsterdam. Among the larger American troop carriers were the Navy-operated West Point, Wakefield, Mount Vernon, Monticello, and Hermitage; the Army-operated George Washington and Edmund B. Alexander, the Argentina, Brazil, John Ericsson, Lurline, Mariposa, Monterey, and Uruguay, which were operated by agents of the War Shipping Administration ; and the warbuilt, Navy-operated “Admirals” and “Generals” (P-2 type)." Palmeira (talk) 17:57, 8 July 2013 (UTC)