SS Stevens

40°44′40″N 74°1′22″W / 40.74444°N 74.02278°W / 40.74444; -74.02278

SS Stevens at Stevens Institute of Technology, Eighth Street Pier, Hoboken, NJ ca. 1970.
History
Builder	Bethlehem Steel, Sparrow Point Shipyard, Sparrow Point, MD
Laid down	22 December 1943 (as cargo ship)
Launched	10 June 1944 (as USS Dauphin (APA-97))
Sponsored by	Mary B. Cooke (as USS Dauphin (APA-97))[1]
Christened	USS Dauphin (APA-97)
Renamed	SS Exochorda (1948), SS Stevens (1967)
Honors and awards	One Battle star, Navy Occupation Service Medal (as USS Dauphin)
Name	SS Stevens
Namesake	Stevens Institute of Technology
Owner	Stevens Institute of Technology
Cost	$130,301 (as SS Stevens)
Acquired	October 1967 (as SS Stevens)
In service	January 1968 (as SS Stevens)
Out of service	May 1975 (as SS Stevens)
Nickname(s)	"the Ship" (as SS Stevens)
Fate	Sold for scrap 1975. Scrapped in Chester, PA, Kearny, NJ, Raritan Bay port, 1979
Badge	∫ (Integral symbol)
General characteristics
Type	Hull type C3-S-A3
Displacement	14,893 tons[2]
Length	473 ft, 1 in[1]
Beam	66 ft, 2 in[1]
Draft	25 ft
Propulsion	Disabled (geared turbine engines, single screw, 8,000 hp)
Boats & landing craft carried	6 lifeboats including 1 motorized
Capacity	150 student residents[3] [o]
Notes	Maritime Commission hull no. 4419 while under construction,[1] later MC hull no. 1675[4]

SS Stevens, a 473-foot (144 m), 14,893-ton ship, served as a floating dormitory from 1968 to 1975 for about 150 students of Stevens Institute of Technology, a technological university, in Hoboken, New Jersey. Permanently moored on the scenic Hudson River at the foot of the campus across from New York City, this first collegiate floating dormitory^[5] became one of the best-known college landmarks in the country.^[3]

Twenty-four years prior to her duty as a floating dormitory, the ship served with distinction in World War II as USS Dauphin (APA-97),^[6] a Windsor-class attack transport vessel. Originally launched in 1944, Dauphin was awarded one battle star and was present in Tokyo Bay for the Surrender Ceremony of World War II on September 2, 1945.^[7]

Following the war, the vessel underwent significant modifications and emerged as the cruise liner SS Exochorda^[8] — a member of the "4 Aces", a post-war quartet of ships operated by American Export Lines. During her eleven years of cruise liner service, from 1948 to 1959, Exochorda — along with her nearly identical sister ships in the "4 Aces" — regularly sailed with passengers and cargo on a 12,000-mile (19,000 km) route from New York Harbor to various Mediterranean ports. Exochorda was retired to the US Navy reserve ("mothball") fleet in 1959 where she remained for eight years.

Exochorda's conversion to a dormitory ship, following her purchase by Stevens Institute of Technology in 1967, required only minor modifications such as the connection of land-based water, sewer and electric utilities. Accommodations for the many student residents aboard Stevens included private baths and in-room control of heating and air-conditioning. Featuring portholes, roll-up berths and nautically themed artwork, Stevens became quite popular among her residents.

Purchased by the institute to fill a shortfall in student housing, the ship's operating costs during the initial years of service were comparable to conventional land-based dormitory housing. In later years, however, the ship's burgeoning operating and repair costs, combined with a more favorable housing outlook, forced the institute to sell Stevens in 1975.^[9] In tribute, one of her 6-ton anchors was prominently placed on the campus grounds by the graduating Class of 1975. In August 1975, the ship was towed to a shipyard in Chester, Pennsylvania, and she was subsequently scrapped in 1979.^[1]