SS California was a British steam turbine ocean liner built in Glasgow in 1923 for the Anchor Line. She was a sister ship of RMS Cameronia (1919), Tyrrhenia, SS Tuscania (1921), RMS Transylvania (1925) and RMS Caledonia (1925). In 1939 the Royal Navy requisitioned her. She was bombed and abandoned along with the SS Duchess of York (1928) west of Spain by a Luftwaffe attack in July 1943.

Building

Alexander Stephen & Sons of Linthouse, Glasgow built California for Henderson Brothers. Photographs of the ship taken in the 1930s show only one funnel, meaning a furnace refit, or that the original fore and aft funnels were dummies. Supporting the latter idea, the 1925 photograph of the top panel shows the smoke from the middle funnel.

Career

Pre-War

The California carried passengers between Glasgow and New York via Derry and Boston, and she made about 20 crossings in winter seasons from Liverpool to Bombay. With the increase in international tourism, the ship's passenger accommodations were redesigned in May 1929 for 206 passengers in cabin class, 440 in tourist class, and 485 in third class.

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 MV Port Fairy, the troopships SS Duchess of York (1928) and California, and escorted by the destroyer HMS Douglas (D90) and frigate HMS Moyola (K260), sailed Port Glasgow, Scotland, for Freetown, Sierra Leone. On the evening of 10 July the convoy rendezvoused with the Canadian destroyer HMCS Iroquois (G89) 500 mi WSW of Land's End. On 11 July 1943 when about 300 mi 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 troopships would attract U-boats, so in the early hours of 12 July they were sunk by Royal Navy torpedoes in position 41.25°N, -15.4°W.

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