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Identification Numbered Vessel Photo Archive

Santa Luisa (ID 2873)



Civilian call sign (1919):
Love - King - Nan - Vice

Santa Ana call sign (1933):
King - Jig - Easy - Unit
Freighter:

  • Built in 1918 as Santa Lucia by William Cramp and Sons, Philadelphia, PA for the Grace Line of New York
  • Renamed Santa Luisa prior to launching
  • Launched 23 March 1918
  • Acquired by the Navy 10 August 1918
  • Commissioned USS Santa Luisa (SP 2873), 12 August 1918
  • Decommissioned 9 December 1918 and returned to the United States Shipping Board for return to her owner
  • Struck from the Naval Register 14 December 1918
  • Renamed El Salvador in 1928
  • Renamed Santa Ana in 1931
  • Acquired in 1931 by the Alaska Steamship Co. and renamed Mount McKinley
  • Registered in 1933 to the Panama Mail Steam Ship Co. of San Francisco, CA as the passenger ship Santa Ana
  • Foundered 11 March 1942 and sank off Unimak, Alaska.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 8,890 t.
    1933 - 4,904 t.
  • Length 373' 9"
    1933 - 360.2'
  • Beam 51' 9"
    1933 - 51.6'
  • Draft 24' 5¼"
    1933 - 22.8'
  • Depth of hold 22' 9"
  • Speed 12.7 kts.
  • Complement 85
    1933 - 31
  • Armament: Two 6"/50 mounts
  • Propulsion: Four single ended boilers, one 3,400ihp vertical quadruple expansion steam engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    SS Santa Luisa
    Santa Lusia 34k
    Namesake:

    Santa Luisa - Louise de Marillac D.C., also Louise Le Gras, (August 12, 1591 – March 15, 1660) was the co-founder, with Vincent de Paul, of the Daughters of Charity. She is venerated as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church. Louise de Marillac was beatified by Pope Benedict XV in 1920 and, on March 11, 1934, she was canonized by Pope Pius XI. Her feast day is May 9 (changed from March 15 in 2016). Her remains are enshrined in the chapel of the motherhouse of the Daughters of Charity at 140 rue du Bac, Paris. She is mistakenly referred to as an incorrupt saint; the body enshrined in the chapel is actually a wax effigy, containing her bones. She was declared Patroness of Christian Social Workers by Pope John XXIII, in 1960

    		 Tommy Trampp
    Santa Lusia 104k Probably off Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1919, following reconversion for commercial employment. She was owned by W.R. Grace & Company and is flying that firm's house flag from her mainmast peak. Note that Santa Luisa still has her World War I gun platform forward
    Photographed by the William Cramp & Sons Ship & Engine Building Company, Philadelphia
    U.S. Navy photo NH 65063    		 Naval Historical Center
    SS Mount McKinley
    Santa Lusia 97k Photographed in Alaskan waters circa the late 1930s by Schallerer's of Ketchikan
    Photo from Shipscribe.com    		 Robert Hurst
    Santa Lusia 188k At Kodiak, Alaska, in 1942 shortly before her loss. She is painted in wartime grey but carries no armament
    National Archives photo 80-G-79578 from Shipscribe.com
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Alvin W. Haynes, USNRF12 August 1918
    02ENS Stanley E. Staton, USNRF1918
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships History: Santa Luisa (ID 2873), a single-screw, steel freighter originally named Santa Lucia, was launched on 23 March 1918 by William Cramp and Sons, Philadelphia, Pa.; delivered to the United States Shipping Board by W. R. Grace and Co. of New York on 10 August 1918 for service in World War I; and commissioned in the United States Navy on 12 August 1918 at New York, Lt. Comdr. Alvin W. Haynes, USNRF, in command.

    Assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service upon commissioning, Santa Luisa carried cargo bound for United States troops in Europe. She made two round-trip voyages from New York to La Pallice and Rochefort, France, between 25 August 1918 and 24 November 1918, carrying a total of 6,840 tons of cargo.

    Santa Luisa was decommissioned on 9 December 1918 and returned to the Shipping Board for simultaneous return to her former owner. Her name was struck on 14 December 1918 from the Navy list. Remaining under United States registry under the subsequent names Santa Luisa, El Salvador, Santa Ana, and Mount McKinley, she foundered on 11 March 1942 off Unimak, Alaska.

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