SS Yale, a 3,731 GRT coastal passenger steamship, was built by the Delaware River Iron Shipbuilding and Engine Works in 1906, for service between New York and Boston.

Yale was decommissioned in early September 1919 and, in June 1920, together with her sister ship Harvard sold for commercial operation along the Pacific Coast between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles Steamship Company spent $8,000,000 to turn the troop ships into high-speed luxury liners, able to make the one way trip in 18 hours.

After 15 years of fast passenger service along the West Coast, Yale was laid up in 1935; in 1940 the national emergency resulting from the outbreak of World War II in Europe brought her back into use.

She was turned over to the Maritime Commission 12 November 1948 and placed with the National Defense Reserve Fleet at Olympia, Washington until 5 June 1949 when she was sold for scrapping.