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SS Exochorda (II)

Last updated June 2009

General Specifications

Type Cargo Liner, single funnel (American Export)
Displacement 7,970 tons (lt)
Length 473 ft, 1 in
Beam 66 ft
Draft 25 ft
Propulsion Single Screw Steam turbine
Speed 17 kt
Cargo Capacity 150,000 cu. ft, 1600 tons
Propulsion 2 Babcock & Wilcox steam turbines, 8,800shp, 6.473KW

SS Exochorda (II)
SS Exochorda (II)

In 1948 the USS Dauphin was sold and refurbished as passenger-cargo ship, SS Exochorda (II), for American Export Lines. On November 2, 1948 Exochorda made her maiden voyage and from that date until 1959 she served as a passenger-cargo ship sailing from New York to the Mediterranean as one of the second-generation "4 Aces". The second-generation 4 Aces -- Exochorda (II), Excambion (II), Excalibur (II), and Exeter (II) -- were nearly identical ships.

In 1958/1959, American Export Lines discontinued the Mediterranean sailings due to competitive pressures from air transportation and due to increased political tensions in the Middle East.

From 1959 to 1967, she was returned to the US Maritime Administration and mothballed in Hudson River Reserve Fleet at Stony Point, NY

In June 1967, the U.S. Maritime Administration announced plans to sell the former cruise liner, Exochorda, for either non-transportation use or scrap.

In October 1967, the US Maritime Administration sells Exochorda to Stevens Institute of Technology for $130,301, to be renamed the SS Stevens and to be used as a floating dormitory at the school-owned Eight Street Pier, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ. The Stevens was scrapped in 1979.

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