Please report any broken links or trouble you might come across to the Webmaster. Please take a moment to let us know so that we can correct any problems and make your visit as enjoyable and as informative as possible.


NavSource Online:
Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive


Santa Malta (SP 3125-a)


Built in 1918 by William Cramp and Sons, Philadelphia, PA; Acquired by the Navy, 17 May 1919 and commissioned USS Santa Malta (SP 3125-a) at Philadelphia, PA; Decommissioned, 6 November 1919 at Brooklyn, NY and returned to the Shipping Board for disposition; Struck from the Naval Register, (date unknown); Later renamed Hawaiian and Fortune. Fate unknown.

Specifications: Displacement 6,270 t.; Length 420' 6"; Beam 53' 9"; Draft 26' 2"; Speed 10 kts; Complement 177; Armament unknown; Propulsion steam, single screw.
Click On Image
For Full Size Image
Size Image Description Source
Santa Malta 143k Panoramic photograph of the ship's officers and crew, 1919.
Photographed by Hughes and Estabrook, New York City.
Donation of Mrs. Marc Galyean, 1991, from the collection of Robert P. Simmons.
USN Photograph NH 97837
Naval Historical Center

DANFS History: Santa Malta (SP-3125-a), a single-screw, steel freighter was built during 1918 by William Cramp and Sons, Philadelphia, Pa., for the Atlantic and Pacific Steamship Co. of New York; ordered on 12 July 1918 to be delivered to the United States Shipping Board upon completion; transferred to the Navy; and commissioned on 17 May 1919 at Philadelphia, Lt. Comdr. John J. Coholan, USNRF, in command.

Operated under the War Department account, Santa Malta was assigned to the Cruiser and Transport Force, Atlantic Fleet, returning American troops home from Europe. Departing Philadelphia on 22 May 1919, she made three round-trip voyages from New York and Philadelphia to Brest and Bordeaux, France, before 29 August. Remaining under War Department account, Santa Malta departed from New York on 10 September 1919 for Colon, Panama, with a cargo of Army pontoon bridge sections and miscellaneous supplies. Santa Malta called at New Orleans, La., before reaching Panama on 1 October. Departing Colon on 6 October, she steamed northward to New York for drydocking and overhaul.

Santa Malta was detached from the Cruiser and Transport Force on 14 October 1919 and transferred to the Commandant, 3d Naval District. Santa Malta was decommissioned on 6 November 1919 at Todd Shipbuilding Corp., Brooklyn, and simultaneously returned to the Shipping Board for eventual return to her owner. Renamed Hawaiian in 1925, she was transferred to Panamanian registry in 1948 as Fortune before being scrapped during 1958.


Crew Contact And Reunion Information
Not applicable for this vessel
Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
Not applicable for this vessel
Back To The Main Photo Index Back To the Patrol Craft/Gunboat/Submarine Chaser Ship Type Index Back To The Section Patrol Craft Photo Index

Comments, Suggestions, E-mail Webmaster

This page created and maintained by Joseph M. Radigan
© 2005 Joseph M. Radigan © 1996 - 2005 NavSource Naval History. All Rights Reserved.