SS Exochorda

This article describes a post-war "new 4 Aces" ship. A pre-war ship of the same name was a member of the original "4 Aces."

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)[1]
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[1]
Beam	66 ft, 2 in[1]
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,[1] later MC hull no. 1675[2]

SS Exochorda was a 473-foot, 14,500-ton cargo liner in service with American Export Lines from 1948 to 1959^[a]. A member of the line's post-war quartet of ships, "4 Aces", Exochorda sailed regularly from New York on a Mediterranean route.^[3] 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.^[4] 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.