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SS Stevens
Last updated June 2009
SS Stevens, a 473-foot, 14,893-ton ship, served as the floating dormitory from 1968 to 1975 for about 150 students of Stevens Institute of Technology, a technological university, in Hoboken, NJ.
Permanently moored on the scenic Hudson River at the foot of the campus across from New York City, this first collegiate floating dormitory became one of the best known college landmarks in the country.
SS Stevens, at Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ.
Twenty-four years prior to her duty as a floating dormitory, the ship served with distinction in World War II as USS Dauphin (APA-97), a Windsor-class attack transport vessel. Originally launched in 1944, Dauphin was awarded one battle star and was present in Tokyo Bay for the Surrender Ceremony of World War II, September 2, 1945.
Following the war, the vessel underwent significant modifications, and emerged as cruise liner SS Exochorda, a member of the post-war quartet of ships named "4 Aces", operated by American Export Lines. During her eleven years of cruise liner service, from 1948 to 1959, Exochorda, along the her nearly identical sister ships in the "4 Aces", regularly sailed with passengers and cargo on a 12,000-mile route from New York Harbor to various Mediterranean ports. Exochorda was retired to the Reserve ("mothball") Fleet in 1959 where she remained for eight years.
Exochorda's conversion to a dormitory ship, following her purchase by Stevens Institute of Technology in 1967, required only minor modifications such as the connection of land-based water, sewer and electic utilities. Accommodations enjoyed by many student residents aboard Stevens included private baths and in-room control of heating and air-conditioning. Featuring portholes, roll-up berths and nautically-themed artwork, Stevens became quite popular among her residents.
Purchased by the institute to fill a shortfall in student housing, the ship's operating costs during the initial years of service were comparable to conventional land-based dormitory housing. In later years, however, the ship's burgeoning operating and repair costs, combined with a more favorable housing outlook, forced the institute to sell Stevens in 1975. In tribute, one of her 6-ton anchors was prominently placed on the campus grounds by the graduating Class of 1975. In August 1975, the ship was towed to a shipyard in Chester, PA, and she was later scrapped in 1979.
From the west bank of the Hudson River, opposite mid-town Manhattan, Stevens offered her residents a panoramic view of the New York skyline extending from the George Washington Bridge in the north, to the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in the south. Located at the foot of the Stevens Institute of Technology campus in Hoboken, her venue afforded viewing of the large variety of watercraft that frequented the river. Silently gliding past portholes, river vessels imparted the sensation of motion to residents aboard their stationary home.
Stevens was moored at the foot of a bluff, above which much of the campus is situated. With her starboard side adjacent to the Eighth Street pier at River Roadl, she was secured at her bow and stern by a total of seven mooring lines. With concurrence by the Coast Guard, four sets of pilings were driven into the river bed, wedging the ship in place and preventing her from drifting downriver in the event the lines were cut. Although she carried four anchors, two on chains at her bow, and two more fastened in place on deck, none were used to anchor the ship.
<Stevens comprised a lower "B" deck, main "A" deck, Promenade, Boat and Sun decks. Students' quarters and public spaces were distributed throughout all decks except for Sun deck which was closed.
The main "A" deck, the highest deck to extend the entire length of the ship, included a center section with students' rooms and the ship's main foyer with gangway.
The lower "B" deck contained the largest number of students' rooms, recreational areas and the ship's laundry room, equipped with automatic washers and dryers.
Promenade deck, immediatey above the main deck, contained students' rooms and the ship's more frequently used lounges. The aft lounge, the largest on the ship featured expansive casement windows, oak furniture and rift-cut American oak paneling. French doors provided access to the promenade for open-air strolling and sightseeing. Promenade's forward lounge, paneled in Kelobra wood, was often used for smaller social gatherings.
Boat deck carried the ship's six lifeboats, three on each side, including one motorized boat, the center boat on the port side. The ship was fitted with gravity roller track davits for the larger aft and center boats. The curved davit arms extended over the open portion of Promenade deck. Radial single pivot davits were implemented for the smaller forward boats.
Sun deck contained the ship's wheelhouse flanked by docking bridges. Outside viewing by wheel house personnel was facilitated by three large forward-looking portholes, flanked by smaller portholes.
Areas below "B" deck, not authorized for passenger access and closed for students, comprised "C" deck, engine room, shaft alley, fuel tanks and water ballast areas.