SS Cuba (1920)

The Cuba was a steamship owned by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. Originally launched in 1897 as the German SS Coblenz, she was seized by the United States in 1917, and named SS Sachem, until Pacific Mail purchased her from the Shipping Board on February 6, 1920 for US$400,000 and renamed SS Cuba.[2]

As SS Cuba in the Panama Canal, 1923
History
German Empire
Name:	SS Coblenz
Namesake:	Koblenz
Owner:	North German Lloyd
Builder:	Blohm & Voss Hamburg
Yard number:	215771
Launched:	18 March 1897
Acquired:	5 May 1897
Out of service:	1917
Captured:	interned in Manila, August 1914 seized by U.S., 6 April 1917
United States
Name:	SS Sachem
Owner:	United States Shipping Board
In service:	1917
Out of service:	1920
Fate:	Sold, 1920
United States
Name:	SS Cuba
Namesake:	Cuba
Owner:	Pacific Mail Steamship Company
Cost:	$400,000
Acquired:	2 February 1920
In service:	1920
Out of service:	1923
Fate:	Wrecked 7 September 1923
General characteristics
Tonnage:	3169[1]
Length:	93.78 m (307 ft 8 in)
Beam:	12.86 m (42 ft 2 in)
Depth of hold:	7.5 m (24 ft 7 in)
Decks:	2
Propulsion:	2 Triple expansion steam engines, twin screws, 1,500 hp (1,100 kW)
Speed:	11.5 knots (21.3 km/h; 13.2 mph)
Capacity:	as SS Coblenz 20 second-class passengers 232 third-class passengers
Crew:	as SS Coblenz 54

Pacific Mail first used the Cuba to carry passengers and cargo between San Francisco, California, and Havana, Cuba, then shifted to a San Francisco-to-Cristobal route.

On the morning of September 8, 1923, Cuba struck a reef just off San Miguel Island in the Santa Barbara Channel off Point Arguello and the coast of Santa Barbara County, California.[2] All aboard survived and were rescued, but the Cuba was a total loss.

The ship's radio was out. She had been navigating through a dense fog for several days. Later that day, nine US Navy destroyers ran aground nearby in the Honda Point Disaster.

The wreck is located at approximately 34.032°N 120.454°W / 34.032; -120.454.