User:Gatoclass/SB/ABIW/SS Excelsior

SS Excelsior was a cargo ship built in 1943 which was converted shortly after launch for service as a U.S. Army troop transport. Renamed USAT Excelsior, the vessel was mostly used during World War II to transport troops from the United States to the United Kingdom, and was also used to ferry troops from the U.K. to Normandy during Operation Overlord.

After the war, Excelsior was returned to her original owner, American Export Lines, for service to the Mediterranean and Far East as the cargo ship SS Excelsior. Briefly renamed SS Celsior in 1970, the ship was scrapped later the same year.

Construction and design
Excelsior, a Type C3-S-A3 freighter, was built for American Export Lines in 1942–43 by the Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard, Sparrows Point, Maryland. Excelsior's keel was laid December 30, 1942. On 29 May 1943, The Baltimore Sun reported the vessel as scheduled for launch at 3 pm the same day, sponsored by Anna Marie Riley, 14-year-old daughter of Thomas Riley, the general manager of American Export Lines in Baltimore.

Excelsior had an overall length of 473 feet 1 inch, a beam of 66 feet and draft of 27 feet 9 inches. She had a gross tonnage of 7,618 tons, and a cargo capacity of 111,179 cubic feet. She was powered by an 8,000 hp steam turbine, delivering a speed of 18 knots, and had an operational range of 17,100 miles.

Excelsior was slated for delivery to American Export Lines on completion, but was instead delivered to the U.S. Army on 23 August 1943 for service as a troopship. Accordingly, the vessel relocated to the Atlantic Basin Iron Works of Brooklyn, New York, where she was converted for her new role between 25 August and 15 November 1943. Following the conversion, Excelsior had a troop-carrying capacity in excess of 2,000 troops. Her armament is unknown, but she appears to have been outfitted with the usual array of antiaircraft weaponry.

World War II service
Entering service as USAT Excelsior, the vessel completed a fast round trip to Belfast, Ireland, returning in December 1943. From January 1944, Excelsior was homeported at Boston, from which base she completed numerous voyages to the United Kingdom through the course of the war, with occasional diversions to Hampton Roads and New York. During Operation Overlord in June 1944, Excelsior was employed in the ferrying of troops from the United Kingdom to Normandy.

Following the end of hostilities, Excelsior deployed to Hampton Roads in late December 1945, awaiting disposal by the Army for whom she was now surplus to requirements. On 8 February 1946, Excelsior was returned to the War Shipping Administration which delivered her the same day to her original owner, American Export Lines, for commencement of commercial service.

Merchant service
Following reacquisition, Excelsiors new operator, American Export Lines, renamed the vessel SS Excelsior' and placed her into merchant service. For the remainder of her career, Excelsior was employed by the company as a freighter, operating between her homeport of Baltimore, Maryland and various ports in the Mediterranean and Far East. Regular foreign ports of call for the vessel in this period of her career included Alexandria, Egypt; Calcutta, India; Karachi, Pakistan and Rangoon, Burma. Local ports of call included Baltimore; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and New York, New York. While Excelsior frequently carried general goods both to and from the United States, a staple return cargo for the vessel was manganese ore from Burma.

In June 1947, an 18-year-old high school student, Lawrence F. Whittemore, won a nationwide student essay competition sponsored by the Propeller Club. Whittemore's prize, donated by American Export Lines, was a ten-week cruise aboard Excelsior to the Mediterranean, which included scheduled visits to Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Greece and Turkey. In December 1949, Excelsior became the 159th unit of the U.S. merchant marine, and the 19th ship of American Export Lines, to receive a naval reserve pennant. The award was presented 6 December on the ship's bridge to Excelsior's master, Austin D. Cushman.

At Jersey City in April 1952, Excelsior shipped the unusual cargo of a luxury "bus-trailer", custom built for Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie and his family. The bus, built in Indiana by the American Trailer Company at a reported cost of $25,000, contained a bathroom, kitchen with stove and seven cubic foot refrigerator, sleeping quarters for four, and heating and plumbing units. The bus was powered by a Chevrolet engine and equipped with six "blow-out proof" tyres. Also included in the order for the Ethiopian government and loaded aboard Excelsior for the same shipment were "eighteen dump trailers, a truck chassis and two Buick and one Chevrolet automobiles".

On 26 May 1963, Excelsior suffered substantial damage at Chittagong, Pakistan, when the vessel broke her moorings during a cyclone and collided with several other ships before running aground. After temporary repairs, Excelsior was able to return to the United States where, in September-October, repairs were completed at Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard, Baltimore, Maryland. On 21 October, Excelsior departed Baltimore for Philadelphia with 1,400 tons of relief cargoes destined for the victims of the Pakistan cyclone, with a scheduled departure date for India and Pakistan of 31 October.

Excelsior was involved in a potentially fatal accident in January 1968, while attempting to dock during gale force winds in the port of Istanbul, Turkey. A small launch attempting to assist became entangled in Excelsior's lines and was dragged dangerously close to her propeller, causing a crew member of the launch to panic and jump overboard. Excelsior's captain, Rudolf Karl Peksens, immediately ordered the engines stopped, the last turn of the propeller striking the launch. With the launch and its crew removed to safety, Peksens renewed his docking maneouvres, but on this occasion the propeller struck a marker buoy and was damaged. The vessel was later repaired in drydock.

After some 24 years' service with American Export Lines, Excelsior was sold by the company in 1970. Briefly renamed SS Celsior, the vessel was scrapped later the same year.

reflist

 * naval flag nyt 1947
 * jun 47 cruise winner nyt
 * mail to mediterranean dec 48 nyt
 * bus for salassie, apr 52 nyt
 * istanbul incident jan. 1968 nyt