The 4 Aces were the quartet of passenger-cargo liners ''Excalibur'', ''Exochorda'', ''Exeter'', and ''Excambion'', originally built for

American Export Lines American Export-Isbrandtsen Lines, New York, was the leading US-flag shipping company between the U.S. east coast and the Mediterranean from 1919 to 1977, offering both cargo ship and passenger ship services, until it declared bankruptcy and was ...

New York Shipbuilding The New York Shipbuilding Corporation (or New York Ship for short) was an American shipbuilding company that operated from 1899 to 1968, ultimately completing more than 500 vessels for the U.S. Navy, the United States Merchant Marine, the United ...

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a city in and the county seat of Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Camden is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan area and is located directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the 2020 ...

between 1929 and 1931. AEL placed the "4 Aces" in service between the US and the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

, offering cruises of up to 40 days. During

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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, all four vessels were taken over by the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

, renamed, and designated as AP- and APA-class

troop transports A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable land troops directly on shore, typicall ...

. ''Excambion'' became USS ''John Penn'' (APA-23), ''Excalibur'' became USS ''Joseph Hewes'' (AP-50) and ''Exeter'' became USS ''Edward Rutledge'' (AP-52). These three of the original (pre-war) 4 Aces were ultimately lost to enemy action. The pre-war ''Exochorda'' was converted to military transport USS ''Harry Lee'', later sold to Turkish Maritime Lines and renamed ''Tarsus''. After World War II, American Export Lines purchased four C3-class ''Windsor'-class

attack transport Attack transport is a United States Navy ship classification for a variant of ocean-going troopship adapted to transporting invasion forces ashore. Unlike standard troopships – often drafted from the merchant fleet – that rely on ...

s built by

Bethlehem Shipbuilding Bethlehem Steel Corporation Shipbuilding Division was created in 1905 when the Bethlehem Steel Corporation of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, acquired the San Francisco shipyard Union Iron Works. In 1917 it was incorporated as Bethlehem Shipbuilding Co ...

Corp. at Sparrow's Point, Maryland, had them refitted as passenger-cargo liners, and placed them in service as the new "4 Aces." USS ''Dauphin'' became ''Exochorda'', USS ''Dutchess'' became ''Excalibur'', USS ''Queens'' became ''Excambion'' and USS ''Shelby'' (APA-105) became ''Exeter''. Carrying the names of the original quartet, the new "4 Aces" sailed under the AEL flag until the 1960s. SS Stevens Anchor on Campus View 01

In 1968, the post-war SS ''Exochorda'' was purchased by

Stevens Institute of Technology Stevens Institute of Technology is a private research university in Hoboken, New Jersey. Founded in 1870, it is one of the oldest technological universities in the United States and was the first college in America solely dedicated to mechanical ...

Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,690 i ...

to alleviate a shortage of on-campus student housing. It was refurbished at

Bethlehem Steel The Bethlehem Steel Corporation was an American steelmaking company headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. For most of the 20th century, it was one of the world's largest steel producing and shipbuilding companies. At the height of its succe ...

Shipyard in Hoboken, renamed SS ''Stevens'' and anchored on the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

adjacent to the campus where it served a dormitory. SS ''Stevens'' remained in service until 1975, when its continued operation became prohibitive due to skyrocketing utility costs. Before it was towed away and sold for scrap, one of ''Stevens'' anchors was removed and permanently displayed on campus as a memento of the institute's most popular dormitory. In 1965, the post-war ''Excambion'' became USTS ''Texas Clipper'' for service with the

Texas Maritime Academy Texas A&M University at Galveston (TAMUG) is an ocean-oriented branch campus of Texas A&M University offering both undergraduate and graduate degrees that are awarded from Texas A&M University in College Station. Students enrolled at Texas A&M Unive ...

until being sunk as an artificial reef on November 17, 2007. The company's subsidiary American Export Airlines borrowed 3 of the names (excepting ''Exochorda'') for its

Sikorsky VS-44 The Sikorsky VS-44 was a large four- engined flying boat built in the United States in the early 1940s by Sikorsky Aircraft. Based on the XPBS-1 patrol bomber, the VS-44 was designed primarily for the transatlantic passenger market, with a capaci ...

flying boats, which it used in transatlantic service. ''Excambion'' is preserved on display at the

New England Air Museum The New England Air Museum (NEAM) is an American aerospace museum located adjacent to Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. The museum consists of three display hangars with additional storage and restoration hangars. Its co ...

in Windsor Locks, Connecticut.

Notes

References

{{reflist Ocean liners Ships of American Export-Isbrandtsen Lines American Export-Isbrandtsen Lines Ships built in Sparrows Point, Maryland Ships built by New York Shipbuilding Corporation