USS Siboney (ID-2999) — BrandWiki

USS Siboney (ID-2999)

displacement	11298 LT
length	443 ft
beam	60 ft
draft	24 ft
power	8 × single ended boilers
propulsion	* 2 × 4500 shp Parsons steam turbines * 2 × screws
speed	17.5 kn
troops	3,100 3,900 after Armistice‡R1R‡
complement	346
armament	4 × 5 in/51 caliber guns 2 × 1-pounders * 2 × machine guns

USS Siboney (ID-2999) was a United States Navy troopship in World War I. She was the sister ship of USS Orizaba (ID-1536). Launched as SS Oriente, she was soon renamed after Siboney, Cuba, a landing site of United States forces during the Spanish–American War. After her navy service ended, she was SS Siboney for the New York & Cuba Mail Steamship Co. (commonly called the Ward Line).[3] The ship was operated under charter by American Export Lines beginning in late 1940. During World War II she served the US Army as transport USAT Siboney and as the hospital ship USAHS Charles A. Stafford.

As a transport during World War I, Siboney made 17 transatlantic voyages for the navy carrying troops to and from Europe, and had the shortest average in-port turnaround time of all navy transports. During her maiden voyage, her steering gear malfunctioned which resulted in a collision between two other troopships in the convoy.

After her World War I service ended, Siboney was returned to the Ward Line and placed in New York–Cuba–Spain transatlantic service; the liner ran aground at Vigo, Spain, in September 1920. Despite considerable damage, she was repaired and placed back in service. In late 1921, Siboney was switched to New York–Cuba–Mexico routes, which were a popular and inexpensive way for Americans to escape Prohibition. In late 1940, she was chartered

World War I naval service

Oriente was a combination cargo and passenger ship built by William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia, for the Ward Line. In mid-1917, the United States Shipping Board (USSB) commandeered and received title to all private shipbuilding projects in progress, including the still-incomplete Oriente and her sister ship Orizaba. Plans for both ships were modified for troop carrying duties.[4] Oriente was launched on 15 August 1917, renamed Siboney on 28 February 1918, delivered to the navy on 8 April, and commissioned the same day.[5]

Siboney sailed from Philadelphia, on 16 April, as a unit of the Cruiser and Transport Force, and arrived at Newport News, two days later to embark her first contingent of troops. She departed Hampton Roads, on 23 April, and joined her first convoy the following day. On 25 April, her rudder jammed; and, in the ensuing confusion, transports USS Aeolus (ID-3005) and USS Huron (ID-1408) collided and had to return to New York. On 4 May, the convoy was joined by the war zone escort of eight destroyers, and on 6 May, Siboney arrived at Brest. Debarking her troops, she sailed the following day and arrived at Hoboken, New Jersey, on 15 May.[5]

Siboney embarked her second contingent of troops at Lambert's Point, Virginia, on 25 May and sailed the following day. The New York section of the convoy joined two days later and the ships entered the war zone on 6 June. In French waters, they were met by USS Corsair (SP-159), a squadron of minesweepers, an American dirigible, and two French hydroplanes. Siboney arrived in Bordeaux, on 8 June, and departed the following day but remained anchored in the mouth of the Gironde, until 13 June, awaiting the tanker Woonsocket. On 15 June, the convoy passed six empty lifeboats from the torpedoed transport USS President Lincoln (1907). Siboney entered the American war zone on 20 June, and the next day rescued survivors of the British troopship, SS Dwinsk, which had been torpedoed three days earlier. The transport arrived at New York on 22 June and anchored in the North River.[5]

Siboney sailed for France, on 30 June; after delivering her troops at Brest, on 12 July, she returned to New York, on 25 July. She sailed again on 31 July. Before arriving at Brest, on 12 August, she had to maneuver several times to evade possible submarine contacts. She arrived at New York, on 22 August and was given a two-week repair period.[5]

On 4 September, Siboney sailed from New York on her fifth crossing and arrived at Saint-Nazaire, nine days later. On 15 September, she embarked a number of wounded troops and left Saint-Nazaire, the same day, but due to heavy submarine activity, swung at anchor for several days before her convoy sailed. She arrived on 29 September, at New York. On her sixth eastward crossing, between 6 and 15 October, an influenza epidemic broke out among the troops, killing a number of soldiers. Sailing from Brest, on 16 October, the transport returned to New York on 24 October.[5]

Siboney had already embarked troops for her next voyage when, on 3 November, she was ordered to disembark them. She sailed the following day with an army brigadier general and his staff, and a naval draft of 500 men. She arrived at Saint-Nazaire, on the 12 November, shortly after the announcement of the Armistice, and was met by a cheering crowd.[5]

Siboney then began her peacetime mission of returning American veterans from Europe to the United States. After embarking 513 wounded men at Saint-Nazaire, she moved to Brest, on 15 November, and took on 600 more passengers. She sailed the same day under escort and reached New York, on 24 November. During the next ten months, Siboney made ten more round trips between the United States and France, returning over 3,000 troops per trip when fully loaded.[5] On one such return trip in August 1919, Siboney carried Admiral Henry T. Mayo, and Congressman Thomas S. Butler, home from France.[6]

Siboney returned to New York, on 2 September, at the conclusion of her 17th trip, having traveled over 115000 nmi and transported approximately 55,000 military passengers to and from French ports.[5] According to the Statistical Department of the US Navy, Siboney had the shortest average in-port turnaround time out of 37 US Navy transports used during World War I. The ship completed 17 round trips and had an average turn-around time of just under 30 days per trip, almost ten days shorter than the average of 39.8 days.[7]

On 10 September, at Hoboken, Siboney was decommissioned and turned over to the War Department, who returned the ship to the Ward Line, her original owners.[5]

World War II Army service

At the conclusion of her seventh and final journey for American Export, Siboney was placed under time charter for duty as an Army transport.[26][22] After a hasty outfitting, the redesignated USAT Siboney was put to work transporting troops. Based in New York, she made trips up and down the Atlantic and into the Caribbean, and, by the end of 1941, had called at Bermuda, San Juan, Trinidad, St. John's, Charleston, Newport News, Cristóbal, Jamaica, and Panama.[26]

December 1941 saw Siboney depart from New York to Trinidad and on to Cape Town, then sailing up the east coast of Africa to Basra, Iraq, and Bandar Shahpur, Iran. The ship returned to Cape Town via Aden and underwent routine boiler repairs there, before returning to New York in April 1942. After undergoing six weeks of repairs at Bethlehem Steel Company, the transport sailed for Halifax, Iceland, and the Clyde, Scotland, in late May, returning to New York in July. Another trip to England and back followed in September 1942.[26]

On 1 July 1942 the ship had been acquired by the War Shipping Administration (WSA) under a bareboat charter converting the Army's time charter to a sub bareboat charter. On 9 August 1943 WSA purchased the ship with the Army's bareboat charter continued.[27]

In early December 1942 Siboney departed for Newfoundland but put into Halifax for two months of drydocking and repairs after she collided with SS City of Kimberly. After returning to New York in February 1943, she made several transatlantic runs, calling at Casablanca, Oran, Gibraltar, Clyde, Durban, Rio de Janeiro, Trinidad, and Cuba over the next 11 months. Siboney returned to New York for major repairs and reboilering at Bethlehem Steel Co. In January 1944, while undergoing this work, the ship was selected for conversion to a hospital ship.[26]

The ship was renamed USAHS Charles A. Stafford after Captain Charles A. Stafford of the U.S. Army Medical Corps, who was killed during the air raid on Broome, Western Australia, while participating in the evacuation of Java on 3 March 1942. With her conversion complete in September 1944, the Stafford, equipped with new boilers, a single stack in place of her original two, and other improvements, moved to her new homeport of Charleston.[28] From that port the ship made monthly runs to the United Kingdom and back until May 1945, interrupting the pattern only once for a trip to Gibraltar and Marseille. Steaming to New York at the conclusion of her last transatlantic run, Charles A. Stafford was overhauled for duty in the South Pacific.[29]

With the alterations complete, the veteran ship—now homeported at Los Angeles—sailed in August 1945 for Cristobál and on to Honolulu, Manila, Biak, Leyte, and Mindoro. After returning to Los Angeles in October, the Stafford sailed for Honolulu, Manila, and Enewetak and back.[29]

After sailing to her new homeport of New York via the Panama Canal during February 1946, Charles A. Stafford resumed her North Atlantic runs to the United Kingdom.[29]

On 30 August 1946 the Army transferred the ship to the Maritime Commission. On 16 February 1948 the ship was placed in the James River Reserve Fleet. Kept on reserve under the name Siboney, the ship was sold by the Maritime Administration on 2 January 1957 for $286,125 to Bethlehem Steel for scrapping.[27]