USS Siboney (ID-2999)

"Periscope" view of the Siboney in convoy, by Musician Loren C. Holmberg, USN (c. 1919), shows the dazzle camouflage applied to the ship during World War I.
History
United States
Name	USS Siboney (ID-2999)
Namesake	Siboney, Cuba
Builder	William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia
Yard number	434
Launched	as SS Oriente, 15 August 1917
Renamed	Siboney, 28 February 1918
Acquired	8 April 1918
Commissioned	8 April 1918
Decommissioned	10 September 1919
Identification	Official number: 216082
Fate	Returned to Ward Line
United States
Name	SS Siboney
Owner	Ward Line (New York & Cuba Mail Steamship Co.)
Route	New York–Havana–Spain, 1920–1921 New York–Cuba–Mexico, 1921–1940
Acquired	August 1919
In service	1919
Refit	1924
Out of service	1940
Fate	Chartered by American Export Lines
United States
Operator	American Export Lines
Route	Jersey City–Lisbon, 1940–1941
Acquired	1940
In service	1940
Out of service	28 May 1941
Fate	chartered by U.S. Army
United States
Name	USAT Siboney
In service	May 1941
Renamed	USAHS Charles A. Stafford, January 1944
Namesake	Captain Charles A. Stafford, U.S. Army Medical Corps
Reclassified	hospital ship, January 1944
Refit	January–September 1944
Out of service	February 1948
Homeport	Charleston, South Carolina, Sept 1944 – Aug 1945 Los Angeles, Aug 1945 – Feb 1946 New York City, Feb 1946 – Feb 1948
Fate	Scrapped, 1957
General characteristics
Displacement	11,298 tons
Length	443 ft 3 in (135.10 m)
Beam	60 ft (18.3 m)
Draft	24 ft 6 in (7.47 m)
Speed	17.5 knots (32.4 km/h; 20.1 mph)
Troops	3,100 3,900 after Armistice[1]
Complement	346
Armament	2 × 1-pounders 2 × machine guns
Differences as SS Siboney:
Crew	127[2]
Differences as USAT Siboney:[3]
Tonnage	6,937
Speed	16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)
Range	6,000 nmi (11,000 km; 6,900 mi)
Capacity	cargo: 116,000 cu ft (3,300 m3)
Troops	1,201
Differences as USAHS Charles A. Stafford:[4]
Tonnage	7,587
Range	8,000 nmi (15,000 km; 9,200 mi)
Capacity	patients: 704 cargo: none
Armament	None

USS Siboney (ID-2999) was a United States Navy troopship in World War I. She was the sister ship of USS Orizaba (ID-1536). Launched as SS Oriente, she was soon renamed after Siboney, Cuba, a landing site of United States forces during the Spanish–American War. After her navy service ended, she was SS Siboney for the New York & Cuba Mail Steamship Co. (commonly called the Ward Line).^{[note 1]} The ship was operated under charter by American Export Lines beginning in late 1940. During World War II she served the U.S. Army as transport USAT Siboney and as hospital ship USAHS Charles A. Stafford.

As a transport during World War I, Siboney made 17 transatlantic voyages for the navy carrying troops to and from Europe, and had the shortest average in-port turnaround time of all navy transports. During her maiden voyage, her steering gear malfunctioned which resulted in a collision between two other troopships in the convoy.

After her World War I service ended, Siboney was returned to the Ward Line and placed in New York–Cuba–Spain transatlantic service; the liner ran aground at Vigo, Spain in September 1920. Despite considerable damage, she was repaired and placed back in service. In late 1921, Siboney was switched to New York–Cuba–Mexico routes, which were a popular and inexpensive way for Americans to escape Prohibition. In late 1940, she was chartered to American Export Lines to return Americans fleeing Europe at the outset of World War II, making seven roundtrips from Jersey City, New Jersey, to Lisbon.

During World War II, Siboney was requisitioned by the War Shipping Administration (WSA) and assigned to the War Department as a U.S. Army transport. She made several transatlantic trips and called at ports in Africa, the Middle East, Canada, the Caribbean, and the United Kingdom. During a 1944 overhaul, the ship was selected for conversion to a hospital ship. Renamed USAHS Charles A. Stafford after a U.S. Army doctor killed in action in Australia, the ship served in both the European and the Pacific Theatres. After the end of her army service, the ship was laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet in February 1948, and sold for scrapping in 1957.

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