Four Aces (passenger liners)

The 4 Aces[a] were the quartet of passenger-cargo liners Excalibur, Exochorda, Exeter, and Excambion, originally built for American Export Lines[b] by New York Shipbuilding of Camden, New Jersey between 1929 and 1931.

Excambion, Excalibur, and Exeter were lost to enemy action;[1] after the war Exochorda was sold to Turkish Maritime Lines and renamed Tarsus.

[2][3] During World War II the company's subsidiary American Export Airlines borrowed three of the names (excepting Exochorda) for its Sikorsky VS-44 flying boats, which it used in transatlantic service.

After World War II, American Export Lines purchased four C3-class[4] Windsor-class attack transports built by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp. at Sparrow's Point, Maryland, had them refitted as passenger-cargo liners, and placed them in service as the new "4 Aces.

It was refurbished at Bethlehem Steel Shipyard in Hoboken, renamed SS Stevens and anchored on the Hudson River adjacent to the campus, where it served a dormitory.