SS Exochorda

SS Exochorda of the New "4 Aces," circa 1950
History
United States
Name:	SS Exochorda
Namesake:	SS Exochorda of the pre-war "4 Aces"
Builder:	Bethlehem Steel, Sparrow Point Shipyard, Sparrow Point, MD
Laid down:	2 December 1943 (as cargo ship)
Launched:	10 June 1944 (as USS Dauphin (APA-97))
Sponsored by:	Mary B. Cooke (as USS Dauphin)
Christened:	USS Dauphin (APA-97)
Acquired:	1947 (as Exochorda)
In service:	November 1948 (as Exochorda)
Out of service:	1959
Renamed:	Exochorda (1948), SS Stevens (1967)
Honors and awards:	One Battle star, Navy Occupation Service Medal (as Dauphin)
Fate:	Sold for scrap 1975 (as Stevens). Scrapped in Chester, PA, Kearny, NJ, Raritan Bay port, 1979
General characteristics
Type:	Hull type C3-S-A3
Tonnage:	9,644 dead weight tons; 7,300 cargo tons
Displacement:	14,893 tons
Length:	473 ft, 1 in
Beam:	66 ft, 2 in
Draft:	25 ft
Propulsion:	Geared turbine engines, single screw, 8,000 hp
Capacity:	125 Passengers, 131 crew, 392,000 ft3 cargo
Notes:	Maritime Commission hull no. 4419 while under construction, later MC hull no. 1675

SS Exochorda, a 473-foot, 14,500-ton cargo liner in service with American Export Lines from 1948 to 1959. A member of the line's post-war quartet of ships, "4 Aces", Exochorda sailed regularly from New York on a Mediterranean route. Originally built in 1944 as the military attack transport USS Dauphin (APA-97), the ship was extensively refurbished prior to her service as a passenger-cargo liner. Following her service as a cruise liner, the vessel served as the floating dormitory ship SS Stevens for the students of Stevens Institute of Technology, a technological university, in Hoboken, NJ. At the end of her service life she was scrapped, in 1979.

In 1944 American Export Lines built a new fleet of "4 Aces" ships, planned to replace the earlier, pre-war "4 Aces". However, the ships were requisitioned by the US Navy for service in World War II and converted to Windsor-class attack transport vessels. The vessel that would later become Exochorda served as Dauphin for the US Navy, from 1944 to 1948. Dauphin was awarded one battle star in the assault on and occupation of Okinawa and earned the Navy Occupation Service Medal for landing cargo and troops in Japan. She was present in Tokyo Bay for the Surrender Ceremony of World War II, 2 September 1945.

Following the war, in November 1947, the ships were returned to dry dock at the Hoboken Yard of Bethlehem Steel Corporation for conversion back to passenger cargo ships for American Export Lines. Dauphin became Exochorda of the post-war "4 Aces", taking her new name from her predecessor in the pre-war fleet.

Fashioning the modern (1948) cruise liner Exochorda from Dauphin required stripping the vessel to the bare hull and machinery. An entirely new superstructure was built that included passenger staterooms located primarily on promenade and "A" decks.