History
United Kingdom
Name	SS Albania
Owner	Cunard Line
Operator	Cunard Line
Port of registry	Liverpool
Route	Liverpool to New York (After 1922 Liverpool - Montreal Quebec)
Builder	Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Ltd. Greenock
Yard number	479
Laid down	1914
Launched	17 April 1920
Completed	December 1920
Maiden voyage	18 January 1921
In service	1921
Out of service	1925
Fate	Sold 1930
History
Italy
Name	SS California
Owner	Liberia Triestina
In service	1930
Out of service	1941
Fate	Sunk 11 August 1941
General characteristics
Type	Cargo liner
Tonnage	12768
Length	539 ft
Beam	64 ft
Depth	47 ft
Decks	2
Installed power	Four steam turbines double reduction geared
Propulsion	Twin screw
Speed	15 knots
Capacity	80 Cabin class passengers

SS Albania was a cargo liner laid down in 1914 by Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Ltd. Greenock, Scotland for the Cunard Line. Owing to the First World War, she wasn't completed until 1920. Designed to maximize cargo capacity, passenger accommodations were limited to the shelter and "tween" decks. Originally intended for the Liverpool New York run, she was transferred in April of 1922 to the Canadian route. Ultimately the vessel proved a disappointment for Cunard, being too small to operate effectively as a passenger liner and too big for a freighter,^[1] and was laid up in 1925 until purchased in 1930 by the Italian company Liberia Triestina who renamed her SS California.^[2][3] She was converted for use as a hospital ship in 1935.

Loss

On 11 August 1941, California was torpedoed and sunk off Syracuse by a Fairey Swordfish aircraft of 830 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm, operating out of Malta.^[4]

References