To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the opening of the Panama Canal, the Canal Zone Post Office in 1939 issued a set of 16 postage stamps, the designs (all different) showing views of the canal while it was being built and after its completion. The 12 cents stamp of the series shows the Santa Clara, of the Grace Line, passing through the Canal channel. This vessel was built by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, at Camden, New Jersey, and was launched in 1930, for the Grace Steamship Co. Inc., of New York.
A twin-screw vessel of 8,220 gross tons on dimensions 483.3 ft. x 63.9 ft. x 34.4 ft., she had two steam turbines driving electric motors. After twelve years in her owner's service, she was taken over on September 7, 1942 by the U.S. Navy and renamed U.S.S. Susan B. Anthony, in honour of a prominent worker for women's suffrage both in America and Europe.
The vessel was commissioned on September 29, 1942, and on October 2 she moored at Portsmouth, Virginia, to take on stores and ammunition, moving on to Norfolk, Va., Army Base, to embark troops. She sailed for North Africa on October 23, with the Northern Attack Force, disembarking her troops early on November 8, at Nehdia, and a week later moored alongside the dock at Saffi to unload cargo. On November 18 she sailed for Norfolk, Va., arriving on the 30th without incident, and unloaded Army After considerable additions to her fighting power the vessel began taking on supplies, on May 28, for an extended voyage, and on the following day embarkation of troops began. With a full "combat load" the Susan B. Anthony, or AP-72, as she warn more generally known, left American waters for Algeria on June 8, in a convoy of some 300 ships, lined out in three columns, arriving safely at Oran on June 22. The Sicilian campaign was her next scene of operations. She arrived off the transport area on July 10 and was soon under air attack by dive bombers, but escaped damage. After her troops had been disembarked she returned to Oran, arriving on July 15. On the 20th she began loading prisoners of war and on July 22 she sailed for New York, berthing there on August 3, 1943.
After repairs she again left for the Mediterranean with troops, disembarking them at Algiers on September 3, arriving safely back home on September 21. Her next voyage was to Belfast Lough, Northern Ireland, to take part in training exercises, where she arrived on October 17, leaving on the 21st for Gourock, Scotland, moving her berth to Holy Loch next day, where she remained until the 26th, when she left for Iceland. She returned to Scotland before proceeding to Boston. She made four round voyages after this to the British Isles, and then on May 28, 1944, arrived at Milford Haven to prepare for the Normandy invasion. Her duties for this period of eight months were for the Naval Transport Service between New York and the United Kingdom.
Although enemy submarines were operating in the North Atlantic very few contacts were made in the convoys in which AP-72 sailed; not a single ship was damaged by a submarine. But this luck was not to last. On June 7, while proceeding in column about 600 yards astern of H.M.S. Pelican in the middle of a swept Channel off Normandy, the Susan B. Anthony came into contact with an object which exploded under her No. 4 hold.
The vessel got out of control, her rudder moving hard aport and sticking there. As her Nos. 4 and 5 holds flooded, the ship began to list and U.S.S. Pinto came alongside to tow her into shallow water. This however proved impossible and orders were passed to abandon ship. H.M.S. Mendip came alongside (the U.S.S. Pinto outboard) and assisted by H.M.S. Narbrough, all the troops from the Susan B. Anthony were taken off safely. By 9.5 a.m. the main deck of the troopship was awash at the stern and 50 minutes later the ship was listing to port with all decks awash to No. 1 hatch. At 10 o'clock the last of the remaining salvage party abandoned ship and the commanding officer followed.
At 10.10 the Susan B. Anthony disappeared completely. There were only 45 wounded among the ship's company and troops. No one was killed and only a few of the casualties were serious.
The Santa Clara 's name has been perpetuated in a new ship built for the company by the Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company at Kearny, N.J., in 1946. She is about the same size as her predecessor, with a gross tonnage of 8,610 on dimensions 441.3 ft. x 63.1 ft. x 37.4 ft.
SG158 Sea Breezes July 1960