USS Siboney (ID-2999)

"Periscope" view of the Siboney in convoy, by Musician Loren C. Holmberg, USN (c. 1919), shows the dazzle camouflage applied to the ship during World War I.
History
United States
Name:	USS Siboney (ID-2999)
Namesake:	Siboney, Cuba
Builder:	William Cramp & Sons Shipbuilding Co. Philadelphia
Launched:	as SS Oriente, 15 August 1917
Renamed:	Siboney, 28 February 1918
Acquired:	8 April 1918
Commissioned:	8 April 1918
Decommissioned:	10 September 1919
Fate:	Returned to Ward Line
Ward Line
Name:	SS Siboney
Owner:	Ward Line (New York & Cuba Mail Steamship Co.)
Route:	New York–Havana–Spain, 1920–1921 New York–Cuba–Mexico, 1921–1940
Acquired:	August 1919
In service:	1919
Refit:	1924
Out of service:	1940
Fate:	Chartered by American Export Lines
American Export Lines
Operator:	American Export Lines
Route:	Jersey City–Lisbon, 1940–1941
Acquired:	1940
In service:	1940
Out of service:	28 May 1941
Fate:	chartered by U.S. Army
United States
Name:	USAT Siboney
In service:	May 1941
Renamed:	USAHS Charles A. Stafford, January 1944
Namesake:	Captain Charles A. Stafford, U.S. Army Medical Corps
Reclassified:	hospital ship, January 1944
Refit:	January–September 1944
Out of service:	February 1948
Homeport:	Charleston, South Carolina, Sept 1944–Aug 1945 Los Angeles, Aug 1945–Feb 1946 New York City, Feb 1946–Feb 1948
Fate:	Scrapped, 1957
General characteristics
Displacement:	11,298 tons
Length:	443 ft 3 in (135.10 m)
Beam:	60 ft (18.3 m)
Draft:	24 ft 6 in (7.47 m)
Speed:	17.5 knots (32.4 km/h; 20.1 mph)
Troops:	3,100 3,900 after Armistice
Complement:	346
Armament:	2 × 1-pounders 2 × machine guns
Differences as SS Siboney:
Crew:	127
Differences as USAT Siboney:
Tonnage:	6,937
Speed:	16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)
Range:	6,000 nmi (11,000 km; 6,900 mi)
Capacity:	cargo: 116,000 cu ft (3,300 m3)
Troops:	1,201
Differences as USAHS Charles A. Stafford:
Tonnage:	7,587
Range:	8,000 nmi (15,000 km; 9,200 mi)
Capacity:	patients: 704 cargo: none
Armament:	None

USS Siboney (ID-2999) was a ship transport for the United States Navy during World War I. She was the sister ship of USS Orizaba (ID-1536) but neither was part of a ship class. Launched as SS Oriente, she was soon renamed after Siboney, Cuba, a landing site of United States forces during the Spanish–American War. After her navy service ended, she was SS Siboney for the Ward Line and American Export Lines. During World War II she served the U.S. Army as transport USAT Siboney and as hospital ship USAHS Charles A. Stafford.

As a transport during World War I, Siboney made 17 transatlantic voyages for the navy carrying troops to and from Europe, and had the shortest average in-port turnaround time of all navy transports. During her maiden voyage, her steering gear malfunctioned which resulted in a collision between two other troopships in the convoy.

After her World War I service ended, Siboney was returned to the Ward Line and placed in New York–Cuba–Spain transatlantic service; the liner ran aground at Vigo, Spain in September 1920. Despite considerable damage, she was repaired and placed back in service. In late 1921, Siboney was switched to New York–Cuba–Mexico routes, which were a popular and inexpensive way for Americans to escape Prohibition. In late 1940, she was chartered to American Export Lines to return Americans fleeing Europe at the outset of World War II, making seven roundtrips from Jersey City, New Jersey, to Lisbon.