SS President Cleveland (1947)
{{Short description|Passenger ship (1947–1974)}}
{{other ships|SS President Cleveland}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image= |Ship caption=}} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United States |Ship flag= {{USN flag|1974}} |Ship name= SS President Cleveland |Ship namesake=Grover Cleveland |Ship owner= |Ship operator=American President Lines |Ship registry= |Ship route=Trans-Pacific |Ship ordered= |Ship awarded= |Ship builder=Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Alameda, California |Ship original cost= |Ship yard number=9509 |Ship way number= |Ship laid down=28 August 1944 |Ship launched=23 June 1946 |Ship sponsor= |Ship christened= |Ship completed=1947 |Ship acquired= |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport= |Ship identification= Official number: 254296 |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honors= |Ship fate= Sold 9 February 1973 |Ship notes= |Ship badge=}} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=Panama |Ship flag= {{shipboxflag|Panama}} |Ship name= SS Oriental President |Ship namesake= |Ship owner= |Ship operator=Oceanic Cruise Development |Ship registry= |Ship route=Trans-Pacific |Ship ordered= |Ship awarded= |Ship acquired=9 February 1973 |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport= |Ship identification= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honors= |Ship fate= Scrapped 1974 |Ship notes= |Ship badge=}} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption=[https://web.archive.org/web/20060325140154/http://www.apl.com/history/timeline/stat7.htm APL: History - 1944-52 SS President Cleveland] American President Lines |Ship class= |Ship type= |Ship tonnage=*{{GRT|15,437}}
|Ship displacement= {{Convert|23,504|LT|t|0|lk=on|abbr=on}} |Ship length=*{{Convert|609|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}} o/a
|Ship beam= {{Convert|75|ft|6|in|abbr=on}} |Ship height= |Ship draft= {{Convert|30|ft|2|in|abbr=on}} |Ship depth= |Ship hold depth= |Ship decks= |Ship deck clearance= |Ship power= {{Convert|20000|hp|0|abbr=on}} |Ship propulsion=*turbo-electric transmission;
|Ship speed= {{Convert|20|kn|lk=in}} |Ship range= |Ship endurance= |Ship boats= |Ship capacity=*579 passengers (379 first class, 200 economy class)
|Ship crew= |Ship notes= sister ship: {{SS|President Wilson | 6}}}} |
SS President Cleveland was an American passenger ship originally ordered by the United States Maritime Commission during World War II, as one of the Admiral W. S. Benson-class Type P2-SE2-R1 transport ships, and intended to be named USS Admiral D. W. Taylor (AP-128). She became the Panamanian-flag passenger ship SS Oriental President in 1973 before being scrapped in 1974. She operated on routes in the Pacific Ocean.
History
=Construction=
President Cleveland was originally ordered by the United States Maritime Commission during World War II, as one of the Admiral-class Type P2-SE2-R1 transport ships, and intended to serve in the United States Navy with the name USS Admiral D. W. Taylor (AP-128). The ship was laid down on 28 August 1944 at the Bethlehem Steel shipyard in Alameda, California, but was cancelled on 16 December 1944.{{Cite DANFS |title=Admiral D. W. Taylor |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/a3/admiral_d_w_taylor.htm |accessdate=13 October 2012}}
Redesigned for commercial passenger service, the ship was launched on 23 June 1946 with the name SS President Cleveland,{{cite journal |date=January 1947 |title=Bethlehem Launches the President Wilson |journal=Pacific Marine Review |pages=33–37 |location=San Francisco |publisher=Pacific American Steamship Association |format=PDF |accessdate=13 October 2012 |url=https://archive.org/details/pacificmarinerev4447paci }} and she was completed in 1947.{{cite web |url=http://www.gao.gov/assets/390/385176.pdf |title=Proposed Work on the S.S. President Cleveland and S.S. President Wilson |publisher=General Accounting Office |date=October 20, 1952 |accessdate=13 October 2012}}The Presidents Ships Monthly November 2017 pages 24–29
=Service history=
President Cleveland was operated by American President Lines under a bareboat charter. She appeared in the background during an Embarcadero waterfront scene in San Francisco, California, in the 1950 film Woman on the Run, featuring Ann Sheridan, at 46 minutes and 40 seconds into the film.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}}
On 22 or 23 July 1958 (sources disagree), President Cleveland was in the Pacific Ocean about {{convert|800|nmi}} from California during a voyage from Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, to San Francisco when U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Lynne C. Quiggle, a passenger on board, disappeared. He was presumed to have jumped or fallen overboard.{{cite news |title=Navy Investigators Probe Disappearance of Admiral |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DS19580725.2.20 |accessdate=March 10, 2020 |work=Desert Sun |location=Palm Springs, California |agency=UPI |via=California Digital Newspaper Collection |date=July 25, 1958 |page=2}}[https://www.nytimes.com/1958/07/27/archives/quiggle-story-denied-widow-of-admiral-reported-disputing-statement.html United Press International, "QUIGGLE STORY DENIED; Widow of Admiral Reported Disputing Statement"]. The New York Times. July 27, 1958.
President Cleveland appeared in the 1961 film Susan Slade, featuring Connie Stevens, Troy Donahue, Dorothy Maguire, and Lloyd Nolan,{{citation needed|date=January 2020}} and was featured in a 1962 Britannica Films production called The Seaport, filmed in San Francisco.{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFu9zUumkss|title=The Seaport - 1962 Educational Documentary |publisher=WDTVLIVE42|date=21 August 2015 |via=YouTube}} It is also seen at anchor in Tokyo Bay in the 1970 Japanese movie Hadaka no Jukyu-sai (Live Today, Die Tomorrow!).{{cite AV media|url=https://rarefilmm.com/2021/09/hadaka-no-jukyu-sai-1970/|title=Hadaka no Jukyu-sai|date=29 June 2021|publisher=|via=RareFilmm}}
President Cleveland was sold to Orient Overseas Line on 9 February 1973, re-registered in Panama,[https://books.google.com/books?id=3zsoAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22SS+Oriental+President%22&pg=PA186 Energy Transportation Security Act of 1974: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Merchant Marine of the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, House of Representatives, Ninety-Third Congress, First and Second Sessions, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1974, pp. 186–187.] and renamed Oriental President. She was scrapped at Kaohsiung, Taiwan in 1974.
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Type P2 ships}}
{{1958 shipwrecks}}
{{Grover Cleveland}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:President Cleveland}}
Category:Maritime incidents in 1958