SS Exodus

Exodus 1947 derelict in Haifa in 1952
History
Name	1927: Florida (intended) 1927–44, 1945–47: President Warfield 1944–45: USS President Warfield 1947: Exodus 1947
Namesake	1927: S. Davies Warfield 1947: The Exodus
Owner	1928–42: Baltimore Steam Packet Co 1942–43: Ministry of War Transport 1943–47: War Shipping Administration 1947: Haganah
Operator	1928–42: Baltimore Steam Packet Co 1942–43: Coast Lines, Ltd 1944–45: United States Navy 1947: Mossad LeAliyah Bet
Port of registry	1928–42, 1943–47: Baltimore 1942–43: Southampton 1947: Israel
Route	1928–42: Norfolk – Baltimore
Ordered	22 August 1927
Builder	Pusey and Jones, Wilmington
Yard number	399
Completed	1928
In service	1928
Out of service	1947
Identification	US official number 227753 code letters MOVN (1928–33) call sign KGQC (1934–42, 1943–47) UK official number 167862 (1942–43) call sign BKMS (1942–43) US Navy pennant number: IX-169 (1944–45)
Fate	Sunk as breakwater
General characteristics
Type	packet boat
Tonnage	as built: 1,814 GRT, 1,706 NRT from 1942: 4,273 GRT, 2,611 NRT
Length	320.0 ft (97.5 m)
Beam	56.6 ft (17.3 m)
Draught	18 ft 6 in (5.64 m)
Depth	16.9 ft (5.2 m)
Decks	as built: 1 from 1942: 2
Installed power	486 NHP
Propulsion	quadruple expansion engine
Speed	15 kn (28 km/h)
Capacity	540 passengers
Troops	605
Complement	70
Armament	1942: 1 × three-inch 12-pounder gun 4 × 20mm guns

Exodus 1947 was a packet steamship that was built in the United States in 1928 as President Warfield for the Baltimore Steam Packet Company. From her completion in 1928 until 1942 she carried passengers and freight across Chesapeake Bay between Norfolk, Virginia and Baltimore, Maryland.

From 1942 President Warfield served in the Second World War as a barracks and training ship for the British Armed Forces. In 1944 she was commissioned into the United States Navy as USS President Warfield (IX-169), a station and accommodation ship for the D-Day landing on Omaha Beach.

In 1947 she was renamed Exodus 1947 to take part in Aliyah Bet. She took 4,515 Jewish migrants from France to Mandatory Palestine. Most were Holocaust survivors who had no legal immigration certificates for Palestine. The Royal Navy boarded her in international waters and took her to Haifa, where ships were waiting to return the migrants to refugee camps in Europe.^[1]