SS Caserta

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History
Italy
Name
  • 1904: SS Maritzburg
  • 1905: SS Mendoza
  • 1914: SS Caserta
  • 1923: SS Venezuela
Namesake
Owner
Port of registry1905: Genoa
Builder
Yard number739
Launched16 August 1904
FateScrapped, March 1928
General characteristics
Tonnage6,847 GRT
Length420 ft (130 m)[2]
Beam51 ft (16 m)[2]
Propulsion
Speed14 knots (26 km/h)[2]
Notesone
funnel and two masts[2]

SS Caserta was an Italian ocean liner named for the city of Caserta in the Campania region of Italy. She was previously known as SS Maritzburg and SS Mendoza, and was later renamed SS Venezuela. Launched in 1904 as Maritzburg for the Bucknall Line, the ship was sold to Lloyd Italiano in 1905 and renamed Mendoza. Renamed Caserta in 1914, she was placed under the Navigazione Generale Italiana banner in 1918. During World War I she was employed as a troopship carrying United States troops to France as part of the United States Navy Cruiser and Transport Force. In 1923, she was renamed Venezuela and transferred to La Veloce for South American service, but reverted to NGI control in 1924. She was scrapped in 1928.

Early career

SS Maritzburg, an ocean liner with a 6,847 gross register tons (GRT),[3] was built in 1904 by Sir W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth and Company of Newcastle upon Tyne, England.[2] Sailing for the Bucknall Line during her first year of operation, the liner was sold in 1905 to Lloyd Italiano and renamed SS Mendoza.[3]

Mendoza completed one trip to New York in January 1908, and two trips in September and October 1909.[4] For the next two years, she began service to New York in May and continued through December. Beginning in May 1912, Mendoza began year-round service on the New York route, sailing opposite Taormina.[5] In 1914, the ship was renamed SS Caserta after the city of Caserta, Italy,[3] and continued New York service opposite Taormina.[6]

In May 1915, Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary, and ships from New York to Italy often carried Italian immigrants returning to fight for their homeland. One voyage of Caserta was typical; she sailed from New York on 1 November carrying some 1,200 men, nearly all of whom were, according to an article in The New York Times, reservists of the Italian Army.[7]

Before her 1 February 1916 arrival in New York, Caserta had been armed with two 3-inch (76 mm) guns mounted on her

resumed unrestricted submarine warfare on 1 February 1917. Lloyd Italiano did not have any U.S. passenger service that year, and Caserta's activities in 1917 are unknown.[10]

U.S. Troopship service

Beginning in May 1918, Caserta was

chartered as a United States troop transport and attached to the United States Navy Cruiser and Transport Force.[11]

Caserta departed New York 10 May 1918 on the first of five convoy voyages to Europe before the war's end—carrying elements of the U.S. 4th Infantry Division's 47th Infantry Regiment, who called her a "cattle boat"—and accompanied by U.S. Navy transports President Lincoln, Covington, Rijndam, UK troopship Dwinsk, and Italian steamship Dante Alighieri. This group rendezvoused with a similar group that left Newport News, Virginia, the same day, consisting of American transports Lenape, Pastores, Wilhelmina, Princess Matoika, Antigone, and Susquehanna, the UK steamship Kursk, and the Italian Duca d'Aosta.[12] American cruiser Frederick served as escort for the assembled ships, which were the 35th U.S. convoy of the war.[13] On 20 May, the convoy sighted and fired on a "submarine" that turned out to be a bucket; the next day escort Frederick left the convoy after being relieved by nine destroyers. Three days later the convoy sighted land at 06:30 and anchored at Brest that afternoon.[14]

Caserta's next convoy left

Newport News on 23 June and consisted of the Italian steamship Duca d'Aosta, Re d'Italia, the French Patria, and American transports Pocahontas and Susquehanna. Accompanied by Montana, South Dakota, Huntington, Gregory, and Fairfax, the convoy reached France on 5 July. Caserta returned to Virginia on 21 July with Re d'Italia.[15]

Caserta sailed again for France on 26 July with Pocahontas, Susquehanna, and Duca d'Aosta from Newport News, and met up with U.S. Navy transports Finland, and Kroonland, and steamship Taormina—Caserta's old Lloyd Italiano line mate—that had sailed the same day from New York.[16] Cruisers Pueblo and Huntington, and destroyers Rathburne and Colhoun ushered the transports to France, where they arrived on 7 August.[17] Caserta arrived back in the United States in late August.[16]

The Italian liner began her next crossing on 30 August when she sailed from Newport News with USS America and Duca d'Aosta to join the New York contingent of Kroonland Susquehanna, Harrisburg and Plattsburg. Caserta's convoy was escorted by Frederick and Colhoun.[17][18]

At 20:00 on 7 October, Caserta departed New York on her fifth Navy voyage with 1,577 men—including parts of the Twenty-ninth Engineers—and joined Kroonland and UK steamship Euripides in rendezvousing with Tenadores, Susquehanna, America, and UK troopship Czar from Newport News.[19] Cruisers Seattle and Rochester, and destroyers Murray and Fairfax served as convoy escorts for the group, which arrived in France on 20 October. Caserta headed back to New York, arriving there on 9 November.[20]

After the

Washington's Birthday, on 22 February. The liner, nicknamed the "Macaroni Barge" by the American troops, eventually reached New York on 27 February.[22] Also on board Caserta was 60-year-old Private Robert W. Louden of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Louden, a veteran of the Spanish–American War and the Mexican Expedition, was wounded twice in fighting in France. Contemporary news accounts called him the "oldest American to go through the war".[23] Another passenger on board was Sultan, a former German messenger dog adopted by two U.S. Army captains when they found him in an abandoned German trench near Verdun.[24] Caserta sailed for Gibraltar and Italy on 6 March.[25]

Caserta made at least one more voyage with American troops when she sailed from Marseille to New York on 22 April.

50th Aero Squadron had located the "Lost Battalion" in October 1918.[27]

Later career

When Caserta resumed regular passenger service in 1919, she began sailing under the Navigazione Generale Italiana (NGI) banner; NGI, which previously had a controlling interest in Lloyd Italiano, took over completely in 1918.[28] Caserta resumed New York service in July, which she continued, with occasional calls at Philadelphia, through the end of 1921.[29]

In 1923, Caserta was renamed Venezuela and transferred to La Veloce Navigazione Italiana a Vapore, commonly known as La Veloce, for service between Italy and South America. Transferred back to NGI in 1924, the liner was scrapped in 1928.[28]

Notes

  1. ^ "SS Mendoza (1904)". www.tynebuiltships.co.uk. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Immigrant Ship Information - C". Retrieved 24 June 2008.
  3. ^ a b c "Lloyd Italiano Line". Archived from the original on 16 May 2008. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
  4. ^ Immigration Information Bureau, pp. 130, 138.
  5. ^ Immigration Information Bureau, pp. 146, 161, 170
  6. ^ Immigration Information Bureau, p. 179.
  7. ^ "New Yorkers were on Ancona" (PDF). The New York Times. 11 November 1915. p. 2. Retrieved 25 June 2008.
  8. ^ "Liner Caserta armed" (PDF). The New York Times. 2 February 1916. p. 2. Retrieved 25 June 2008.
  9. ^ Immigration Information Bureau, p. 189.
  10. ^ Immigration Information Bureau, pp. 191–92.
  11. ^ Gleaves, p. 240. (Page 240 shows the date as "July 1, 1916", but is wrong. See p. 102 for a description of the appendices with the correct date of "July 1, 1918" listed.)
  12. ^ Names of ships: Crowell and Wilson, p. 609. Nationalities of the ships: Gleaves, p. 202. "Cattle boat": Pollard, p. 26.
  13. ^ Crowell and Wilson, p. 609.
  14. ^ Pollard, p. 27.
  15. ^ Crowell and Wilson, p. 611.
  16. ^ a b Crowell and Wilson, p. 614.
  17. ^ a b Crowell and Wilson (p. 614) list the destroyer as "Calhoun". The only USS Calhoun ever was a former Confederate steamship captured during the American Civil War.
  18. ^ Crowell and Wilson, p. 616.
  19. ^ 29th Engineers: Black, p. 118. Time, date, ships: Crowell and Wilson, p. 618. Date, number of men: Crowell and Wilson, p. 561.
  20. ^ Crowell and Wilson, p. 618.
  21. ^ "13,000 soldiers are coming home on eight vessels". Chicago Daily Tribune. 9 February 1919. p. 6.
  22. ^ Brown, entries for 6–27 February.
  23. ^ "Three transports buffeted by gale" (PDF). The New York Times. 28 February 1919. p. 8. Retrieved 26 June 2008.
  24. ^ "Some dogs of war". Chicago Daily Tribune. 1 March 1919. p. 7.
  25. ^ "Foreign Ports" (PDF). The New York Times. 6 March 1919. p. 13. Retrieved 26 June 2008.
  26. ^ Morse, p. 82.
  27. ^ Troops: "Three transports dock at New York with 2,690 Yanks". Chicago Daily Tribune. 9 May 1919. p. 6. 50th Aero Squadron: Morse, p. 9.
  28. ^ a b "Navigazione Generale Italiana Line". Archived from the original on 22 January 2009. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
  29. ^ Immigration Information Bureau, pp. 197, 200, 205.

References

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