Name California Owner Anchor Line Route Glasgow – New York Launched 17 April 1923 | Namesake California Port of registry Glasgow Yard number 494 Length 169 m | |
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Builder Alexander Stephen and Sons | ||
SS California was a British 16,792 GRT steam turbine ocean liner that was built in Glasgow in 1923 for Henderson Brothers and destroyed in the North Atlantic by a Luftwaffe air attack in 1943.
Contents
Building
Alexander Stephen & Sons of Linthouse, Glasgow built California for Henderson Brothers. Photographs of the ship taken in the 1930s show only one funnel, suggesting either a major refit, or that the original fore and aft funnels were dummies. Note the Infobox photograph shows smoke emerging only from the middle funnel.
Pre-War
California carried passengers between Glasgow and New York via Londonderry (Derry) and Boston, and in 1935 she was transferred to Anchor Line (1935) Ltd.
World War II
In 1939 she was requisitioned by the Admiralty and converted to an Armed Merchant Cruiser, and from 1942 she was a troopship.
Loss
On 8 July 1943 the small fast Convoy Faith, comprising Port Fairy, the troopships Duchess of York and California, and escorted by the destroyer HMS Douglas and frigate HMS Moyola, sailed Port Glasgow, Scotland, for Freetown, Sierra Leone. On the evening of 10 July the convoy rendezvoused with the Canadian destroyer HMCS Iroquois 500 miles (800 km) WSW of Land's End. On 11 July 1943 when about 300 miles (480 km) west of Vigo, Spain, the convoy was attacked by three Focke-Wulf Fw 200 aircraft of Kampfgeschwader 40 from Merignac near Bordeaux.
Accurate high-altitude bombing left Duchess of York and California in flames. The attack cost the lives of 46 servicemen and crew, and both ships were abandoned. It was feared the flames from the ships would attract U-boats, so in the early hours of 12 July they were sunk by Royal Navy torpedoes in position 41°15′N 15°24′W.