SS Santa Rosa Archival Collection
Postcard Photo of the SS Santa Rosa (1932) of the Grace Line. GGA Image ID # 1e176be462
SS Santa Rosa Content Links
- Santa Rosa (1932) Grace Line
- Passenger Lists
- Photographs
- Postcards
- Excerpts from Information for Passengers
- World War II Service of the SS Santa Rosa - 1947
Santa Rosa (1932) Grace Line
Built by Federal Shipbuilding Co., Camden, N. J. Tonnage: 9,135. Dimensions: 484' x 72' (508' o.l.). Twin-screw, 19 knots. Steam turbines. Two masts and two funnels. WW2 Service: Troop Transport. Renamed: (a) Santa Paula (1958), (b) Athinai. Sister ships: Santa Elena, Santa Lucia and Santa Paula.
S.S. Santa Rosa was a passenger and cargo ocean liner. She was built for the Grace Line to comply with its mail contracts for the South American service. Her regular route sailed between the east and west coasts of the U.S. via the Caribbean and the Panama Canal.
The S.S. Santa Rosa's maiden voyage was on 26 November 1932. She was requisitioned by the U.S. War Shipping Administration in 1942, repainted gray, and allocated to Army for troop service during wartime.
The S.S. Santa Rosa resumed the Caribbean mail service in 1947.
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Passenger Lists
1937-12-10 SS Santa Rosa Passenger List
Passenger List for the 10 December 1937 voyage of the SS Santa Rosa of the Grace Line, departing from San Francisco and Los Angeles for Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Panama Canal, Colombia, Havana, and New York, Commanded by Captain Curt Zastrow.
Photographs
Passengers on Board the SS Santa Rosa, 25 December 1937. GGA Image ID # 1e17a2fafb
Autographs of a Group of Passengers on Board the SS Santa Rosa, 25 December 1937. (Reverse Side of Photograph Above.) GGA Image ID # 1e17b0a96d
SS Santa Rosa of the Grace Line, 1932. GGA Image ID # 1e180aa95d
The Club Room on the SS Santa Rosa, 1932. Photo by Grace Line. GGA Image ID # 1e1825dede
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Postcards
SS Santa Rosa (1932) of the Grace Line. GGA Image ID # 1e182c4e81
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Excerpts from Information for Passengers
Upon arrival at the dock in a U. S. A. port, Passengers in order to land, must present the landing card at the gangway, after it has been stamped lay the United States Immigration Officer. Cards are supplied by the Purser.
Passengers not citizens of the United States in order to obtain refund of the U. S. Head Tax must leave the United States within sixty days after their arrival and should so state their intention when appearing before the Immigration Inspector and secure a Form 514 "in Transit Certificate."
Representatives of the Passenger Department will be aboard ship to assist Passengers and-furnish information about baggage, hotels, trains, etc.
After passing the Customs Inspection, Passengers will find representatives of a Transfer Company outside the baggage enclosure with whom arrangements may be made for forwarding baggage, etc., to destination.
The Grace Line has no connection whatsoever with any Express Company, but after careful investigation has found the ones on the Pier to be reliable and reasonable in price.
The Grace Line will appreciate it if any apparent overcharge, incivility or other unsatisfactory service is reported at once to the General Passenger Traffic Manager, 10 Hanover Square, New York, or 2 Pine Street, San Francisco.
Source: SS Santa Rosa Passenger List - 10 December 1937
Grace Line is engaged principally in regularly scheduled (liner) service carrying freight, passengers and mail between the Americas.
Grace Line ia a wholly owned subsidiary of W. R. Grace & Co., a chemical manufacturing and international industrial concern with transportation interests. With its origin in Peru in the 1850s. the Grace organization has had more than 90 years of shipping experience and as early as the 1860s. operated around Cape Horn.
Today Grace Line operates in the following berth services declared by the United Sutes to be essential to its foreign commerce:
Line A: Passenger and freight service between the U. S. Atlantic Coast and the Pacific Coast of South America via the Panama Canal;
Line B: Freight service between the Pacific Coast of the United Sutes (with permissive calls in British Columbia) and the Pacific Coast of Mexico, Central America and South America; and
Line C: Passenger and freight service between the U. S. Atlantic Coast and the Netherlands West Indies, the North Coast of Colombia, V encrue la and other Caribbean ports.
Grace Line has three minor wholly owned subsidiaries engaged in stevedoring and lightering.
Grace Line's SS Santa Rosa, delivered in 1932 is now in service on Line A.
World War II Service of the SS Santa Rosa - 1947
The SS Santa Rosa of the Grace Line Shown as a Troop Carrier During World War II. GGA Image ID # 1e1867ae60
- Length, overall 508' 0"
- Gross tons 9,135
- Propulsion Turbines (2),
- Beam 72' 0"
- Speed (knots) — 19
- Passengers 2,426,
- Draft 25' 11"
- Radius (miles)— 12,000
- Cargo (cu. ft.)—145,593
Built in 1932 by Federal Shipbuilding 6* Dry dock Co., Kearny, N. J. Operated during World War II by Grace Line, Inc., and War Shipping Administration.
THE SANTA ROSA was in commercial operation upon entry of the United States into the war. She was, however, soon pressed into troop service and made 21 round trips from the East Coast of U. S. to Europe, 1 to Australia, 1 to India and 3 to Africa during the four calendar years 1942-1945. All departures were from New York except as noted.
Voyages of 1942 were: on 23 January from New York, via the Panama Canal, to Melbourne and Noumea; in late April to Suez, Massaua, Aden, Durban; in early September to the Clyde; on 2 November to Casablanca.
Voyages of 1943 were: on 14 January to Casablanca; on 25 February to Bermuda and Casablanca; on 29 April to Casablanca, Gibraltar, the Clyde, Algiers and Philippeville; on 21 August to Oran; on 8 October from Boston to Swansea, the Clyde, Palermo and Newport (England); via Boston on 29 December to Bristol and Newport.
Voyages of 1944 were: on 11 February to Belfast; on 24 March from Boston to Avonmouth and Cardiff; on 12 May via Norfolk to Naples and Gibraltar; on 1 July from Norfolk to Oran, Naples and Cape Henry; on 14 October to Marseilles, Oran and Gibraltar; on 2 December from Boston to Swansea, with return to Boston on 27 December.
Voyages of 1945 were: on 3 January to Le Havre and Southampton; on 5 February to Le Havre and Plymouth; on 15 March to The Solent, Le Havre and Southampton; on 2 May to Le Havre and Southampton; on 3 June to Southampton; on 1 July to Le Havre and Cherbourg, with return to Hampton Roads on the 19th; on 25 July to Plymouth and Le Havre; on 28 August the same; on 20 September to Marseilles; on 20 October from New York, via Port Said, to Karachi; on 10 December the same, with return to New York on 20 January 1946.
The ship subsequently went to the yard of the Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Company for extensive repairs incident to redelivery to the owners, which is scheduled for October 1946.
Roland W. Charles, "Santa Rosa," in Troopships of World War II, Washington, DC: The Army Transportation Association, April 1947, p. 253.
