The SS Leland Stanford was a

Liberty ship Liberty ships were a ship class, class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost constr ...

built for service in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Namesake

The ship was named for

Amasa Leland Stanford Amasa Leland Stanford (March 9, 1824June 21, 1893) was an American industrialist and politician. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 8th governor of California from 1862 to 1863 and represented California in the United States Se ...

, California governor, president of the

Central Pacific Railroad The Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) was a rail company chartered by U.S. Congress in 1862 to build a railroad eastwards from Sacramento, California, to complete the western part of the "First transcontinental railroad" in North America. Incorpo ...

, and founder of Stanford University.

Construction

SS ''Leland Stanford'' was the 53rd ship launched by the

California Shipbuilding Corporation __NOTOC__ California Shipbuilding Corporation built 467 Liberty and Victory ships during World War II, including ''Haskell''-class attack transports. California Shipbuilding Corporation was often referred to as Calship. The ''Dictionary of A ...

, at

Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporated ...

, California. She was launched 42 days after her keel was laid.

Sponsor

The sponsor of the ship was Mrs. Neil Petree, secretary of the Stanford Women's Club of Los Angeles. Her maid of honor was her daughter, Virginia Petree. Mrs. Petree, formerly Vera Margaret Thomas, took her A.B. degree at Stanford in 1918.

Service

She was operated by the

Coastwise Line Pacific Far East Line, also called PFEL in short, was a passenger and cargo shipping line founded in 1943 by Thomas E. Cuffe, in San Francisco, California. At the beginning he started by chartering foreign ships to run the lines in tramp trade. L ...

under a charter with the

Maritime Commission The United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, which was passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and was abolished on May 24, 19 ...

and

War Shipping Administration The War Shipping Administration (WSA) was a World War II emergency war agency of the US government, tasked to purchase and operate the civilian shipping tonnage the United States needed for fighting the war. Both shipbuilding under the Maritime C ...

. The need for transporting German prisoners to America from North Africa caused many cargo ships including many Liberty ships to be converted with five-tier bunks as well as facilities to provide food, water, environmental controls and sanitation. Around 550 could be accommodated. These arrangements were retained for use in transporting American troops later in the war. ''Leland Stanford'' was one of those temporarily modified. The ''Leland Stanford'' carried troops to Oran, Algeria, in 1943. The ship ran aground on 19 January 1944 on Hen and Chickens Shoal off of

Cape Henlopen Cape Henlopen is the southern cape of the Delaware Bay along the Atlantic coast of the United States. It lies in the state of Delaware, near the town of Lewes, where the Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean. Off the coast on the bay side are ...

, Delaware, in zero visibility. The USS ''Allegheny'' responded and for two days unsuccessfully attempted to unground the vessel before being called away to a more severe disaster, the collision and fire of the MV ''Plattsburg Socony'' and the Liberty ship SS ''Charles Henderson''. Finally the ''Leland Stanford'' worked herself loose without further assistance. On the night of 24 November 1945, the ''Leland Stanford'' went aground on the

Goodwin Sands Goodwin Sands is a sandbank at the southern end of the North Sea lying off the Deal coast in Kent, England. The area consists of a layer of approximately depth of fine sand resting on an Upper Chalk platform belonging to the same geologi ...

off of

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, at the northern end of the strait of

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

. The ship, carrying some 500 homeward-bound American troops, was refloated early 25 November with the aid of tugs. ote - another source cites a 1 November 1945 grounding that caused damage but only gives the location as the NE Atlantic Ocean.ref>

Fate

The ''Leland Stanford'' was scrapped at

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

, California, in 1967.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leland Stanford, SS Liberty ships Ships built in California Long Beach, California 1942 ships World War II merchant ships of the United States Standard ship types of the United States