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Identification Numbered Vessel Photo Archive

Santa Rosalia (ID 1503)



Civilian call sign (1919):
Love - Dog - Pup - Nan
Freighter:

  • Built in 1911 by William Hampton and Company, Ltd., Port Glasgow, Scotland for the Isthmian Steamship Company of London, England
  • Launched 21 September 1911
  • Completed in October 1911
  • Sold in 1914 to the United States Steel Products Co. of New York
  • Acquired by the Navy 20 May 1918 at New Orleans, LA and commissioned USS Santa Rosalia (ID 1503) the same day
  • Decommissioned 26 June 1919 at New York and returned to the United States Shipping Board for return to her owner
  • Sold in 1929 to E. G. Culucundis and Costomeni of Syra, Greece and renamed Stefanos Costomenis
  • Abandoned and foundered 18 February 1936 off the coast of Northern Russia while en route from Tampa, FL to Rotterdam, The Netherlands with phosphates.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 11,600 t.
  • Length 419'
  • Beam 52' 7"
  • Draft 24' 7"
  • Depth of hold 27' 8"
  • Speed 10 kts.
  • Complement 62
  • Armament: One 5"/51 mount and one 3"/50 gun mount
  • Propulsion: Two single-ended and one auxiliary boiler, one 2,700ihp vertical triple-expansion steam engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Santa Rosalia 60k
    Namesake:

    Saint Rosalia (1130–1166), also called La Santuzza or "The Little Saint", and in Sicilian as "Rusulia", is the patron saint of Palermo in Italy, Camargo, Chihuahua, and three towns in Venezuela: El Hatillo, Zuata, and Anzoátegui. She is especially important internationally as a saint invoked in times of plague (disease). In 2020, she is being invoked by the citizens of Palermo to protect the city from COVID-19

    		 Tommy Trampp
    Photo added 2 November 2020
    Santa Rosalia 83k Photographed prior to her World War I era Naval service
    U.S. Navy photo NH 65056    		 Naval Historical Center
    Santa Rosalia 79k In port, possibly when inspected by the Third Naval District in 1917-1918
    U.S. Navy photo NH 102820
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Thomas Ellis, USNRF20 May 1918 - 1919
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships History: Santa Rosalia, a steel-hulled screw freighter built in 1911 by William Hampton and Company, Ltd., Port Glasgow, Scotland, was acquired by the Navy at New Orleans on 20 May 1918 under United States Shipping Board (USSB) charter from the United States Steel Products Co.; and commissioned the same day.

    Assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service, the ship sailed for Hampton Roads on 1 June where she loaded general Army supplies. Sailing in convoy for France on the 19th, she reached Brest on 9 July and proceeded to Gironde to discharge her cargo. She got underway for home on 3 August and arrived at Baltimore on the 20th. Six days later, she headed for New York for repairs before sailing from Norfolk in convoy for Europe early in October. She reached Brest on the 28th and proceeded to St. Nazaire. On 11 November, while Santa Rosalia was unloading her cargo there, the armistice was signed, ending the fighting.

    The ship got underway for Baltimore on 14 November and arrived there on 5 December. After transferring from an Army to a USSB account, the ship proceeded to New York to take on a cargo of general supplies. She stood out to sea on 19 January 1919, stopped at St. Thomas from the 25th through the 27th, and arrived at Montevideo, Uruguay, on 18 February. After unloading there, she took on a cargo and returned to New York. She again returned to New York from a similar round-trip voyage to Montevideo on 6 June; decommissioned there on the 26th, and was transferred to the USSB the same day for simultaneous return to her owner.

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