Harvard

1931

(California CA-16)

Type: Passenger steamer
Displacement: 3,731 tons
Dimensions: 407 x 62 x 19 ft.
Machinery: coal-fired steam turbines, triple screw = 23 knots
Passengers: 800 (cabins for 275)

Builder: Delaware River Iron Shipbuilding and Engine Works, Chester, PA, 1907

Notes: Built for Metropolitan Steamship Company of New York along with sister Yale. The pair spent three years running between New York and Boston before being acquired by the Pacific Steam Navigation Company for service on the West Coast. The two ships made the long voyage to California via the Straits of Magellan, arriving in Dec 1910. Ran between San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego. Commandeered for World War I service by the U.S. Navy, Harvard was given ID-1298 and renamed USS Charles 11 Apr 1918 to 29 Jul 1920. Yale was given ID-1672 but retained her name. Refitted as troop transports, both were based in Southampton, England, for service across the English Channel to Le Havre and Brest. Decommissioned in Jun 1920 and offered for sale, they were bought by a Los Angeles syndicate which became the Los Angeles Steamship Company (LASSCO). Refurbished, with added ball rooms, they could make the run from San Diego to San Francisco in 23 hours. Harvard was on voyage number 972 when she hit the rocks at Point Arguello, California in the early morning fog of 30 May, 1931. An SOS call brought help from the cruiser USS Louisville and all 530 passengers and crew were rescued from lifeboats. Yale continued to run until Jul 1936, when economic conditions forced her withdrawal from service. She returned to U.S. Navy service in 1943 as USS Greyhound, IX-106, being used as a floating barracks in Puget Sound. She was scrapped in 1949 at Stockton, CA.