St. Paul (1895)

Later names:
1898:
USS St. Paul


Builder:
William Cramp & Sons
Ship and Engine Building Co.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Ordered:
N/A
Keel Laid:
N/A
Year Built:
1895
Launched:
April 10, 1895
Type:
Passenger
(aux. cruiser / troopship)
Completed:
October 1895
Fate:
Scrapped in Germany in 1923.


Owner
American Steamship Company
(American Line)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1892:
International Navigation Company
(Red Star Line)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
(American Line was acquired by Red Star, but ships continued to operate under American Line)


Dimensions, machinery and performance

Length:
535' 5" (PP)
Engines:
2 quadruple expansion
Beam:
63'
Boilers:
N/A
Draft:
N/A
Shafts:
2
Gross Tons:
11,629
HP:
N/A
Displacement:
14,910 (as aux. cruiser)
Speed:
19 knots
Crew:
N/A
Funnels:
2
Passengers:
1,370
Masts:
2


Timeline
Oct. 9, 1895:
Maiden voyage New York - Southampton.
1896:
Funnels heightened.
1898:
Chartered by US Navy and converted into an auxiliary cruiser for service in the
Spanish-American War. Commissioned as USS St. Paul.

Sept. 1898:
Decommissioned and returned to owners.
Oct. 1898:
Returned to commercial service.
Apr. 25, 1908:
Rammed and sank the cruiser HMS Gladiator in the Solent, off Sconce Point, Isle of Wight.
29 crewmen on Gladiator were killed.
1913:
Refit for 2nd and 3rd class only.
Aug. 1914:
Moved to New York - Liverpool route.
Apr. 25, 1918:
Capsized at Pier 61, Hoboken, New Jersey while under conversion into a troopship, two
men were killed. Was to have been commissioned into the US Navy as
USS Knoxville ID-1643, but the conversion was not completed.
(Note: Sister ship St. Louis burned and sank in shallow water at Hoboken on Jan. 9, 1920.)

1919:
Returned to commercial service.
Sept. 22, 1922:
Towed from New York to Germany and scrapped.


Builder's Data
Page published Sept. 16, 2008