SS Panaman SS " Panaman was a cargo ship built in 1913 for the American - Hawaiian Steamship Company . The ship was sometimes incorrectly referred to as SS " Panamanian . During World War I she was known as USAT " Panaman in service for the United States Army and USS " Panaman " ( ID - 3299 ) in service for the United States Navy . Late in her career she was known as SS " Marcella for the Italian government . She was built by the Maryland Steel Company as one of eight sister ships for the American - Hawaiian Steamship Company , and was employed in inter - coastal service via the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and the Panama Canal after it opened . In World War I , USAT " Panaman " carried cargo and animals to France under charter to the U . S . Army . When transferred to the U . S . Navy in August 1918 , USS " Panaman " continued in the same duties , but after the Armistice , was converted to a troop transport and returned over 11 , 000 American troops from France . Returned to American - Hawaiian in 1919 , " Panaman " resumed inter - coastal cargo service . During World War II , " Panaman " was requisitioned by the War Shipping Administration and initially sailed between New York and Caribbean ports , but with two trips to African ports mixed in . Beginning in mid 1943 , " Panaman " sailed from New York or Boston to ports in the United Kingdom . In late 1946 , she was sailing in the Pacific Ocean . In July 1947 , American - Hawaiian sold " Panaman " to the Italian government . Renamed " Marcella " at that time , she was scrapped in September 1954 at Baltimore . Design and construction . In November 1911 , the American - Hawaiian Steamship Company placed an order with the Maryland Steel Company of Sparrows Point , Maryland , for two new cargo ships — " Panaman " and . The contract cost of the ships was set at the construction cost plus an 8 % profit for Maryland Steel , but with a maximum cost of $ 640 , 000 each . The construction was financed by Maryland Steel with a credit plan that called for a 5 % down payment in cash with nine monthly installments for the balance . Provisions of the deal allowed that some of the nine installments could be converted into longer - term notes or mortgages . The final cost of " Panaman " , including financing costs , was $ 70 . 29 per deadweight ton , which came out to just over $ 715 , 000 . " Panaman " ( Maryland Steel yard no . 128 ) was the first ship built under the contract . The ship was , and was in length ( between perpendiculars ) and abeam . She had a deadweight tonnage of , and her cargo holds , which had a storage capacity of , were outfitted with a complete refrigeration plant so that she could carry perishable products from the West Coast — like fresh produce from Southern California farms — to the East Coast . " Panaman " had a single steam engine powered by oil - fired boilers that drove a single screw propeller at a speed of . Early career . When " Panaman " began sailing for American - Hawaiian , the company shipped cargo from East Coast ports via the Tehuantepec Route to West Coast ports and Hawaii , and vice versa . Shipments on the Tehuantepec Route would arrive at Mexican ports — Salina Cruz , Oaxaca , for eastbound cargo , and Coatzacoalcos , Veracruz , for westbound cargo — and would traverse the Isthmus of Tehuantepec on the Tehuantepec National Railway . Eastbound shipments were primarily sugar and pineapple from Hawaii , while westbound cargoes were more general in nature . " Panaman " sailed in this service on the west side of North America . After the United States occupation of Veracruz on 21 April 1914 ( which found six American - Hawaiian ships in Mexican ports ) , the Huerta - led Mexican government closed the Tehuantepec National Railway to American shipping . This loss of access coupled with the fact that the Panama Canal was not yet open , caused American - Hawaiian to return in late April to its historic route of sailing around South America via the Straits of Magellan . With the opening of the Panama Canal on 15 August , American - Hawaiian ships switched to taking that route . In October 1915 , landslides closed the Panama Canal and all American - Hawaiian ships , including " Panaman " , returned to the Straits of Magellan route again . " Panaman " s exact movements from this time through early 1917 are unclear . She may have been in the half of the American - Hawaiian fleet that was chartered for transatlantic service . She may also have been in the group of American - Hawaiian ships chartered for service to South America , delivering coal , gasoline , and steel in exchange for coffee , nitrate s , cocoa , rubber , and manganese ore . World War I . At some point after the United States declared war on Germany , the United States Army chartered " Panaman " for transporting pack animal s to Europe in support of the American Expeditionary Force . Although there is no information about the specific conversion of " Panaman " , for other ships this typically meant that passenger accommodations had to be ripped out and replaced with ramps and stalls for the horses and mules carried . Details about " Panaman " s first two animal transport journeys are not known , but her third trip began 1 April 1918 when she sailed from Newport News , Virginia , with 180 animals for Saint - Nazaire . All 180 animals arrived in good health ; none had died , fallen ill , or been injured during the trip . Further details of " Panaman " s Army service are not known . On 12 August , " Panaman " was transferred to the United States Navy at New York , and was commissioned into the the same day . " Panaman " was loaded with a cargo of general supplies , beef , and a deck - load of trucks and sailed in a convoy from New York on 21 September , arriving at its destination of Saint - Nazaire 6 days later . Back in New York on 7 October , " Panaman " was outfitted with 821 stalls for horses , and took on a load of horses , general cargo , and 78 officers and men . Sailing in her next convoy on 19 October , she reached Bordeaux on 6 November , five days before the Armistice . After sailing from France on 16 November , she arrived at Newport News eleven days later and underwent repairs . " Panaman " sailed on 8 December for New York , where the Board of Survey found her fit for conversion to a troop transport and transferred her from the to the Cruiser and Transport Force . Though sources do not indicate the specific modifications " Panaman " underwent , typical conversions for other ships included the installation of berths for troops , and adding greatly expanded cooking and toilet facilities to handle the large numbers of men aboard . Similar modifications on " Panaman " s sister ship took three months , but it is not known how long " Panaman " s refit took . After her conversion , she made six roundtrip voyages to France and brought home 11 , 393 American personnel . USS " Panaman " was decommissioned on 18 September 1919 , and returned to American - Hawaiian the same day . Interwar years . " Panaman " resumed cargo service with American - Hawaiian after her return from World War I service . Though the company had abandoned its original Hawaiian sugar routes by this time , " Panaman " continued inter - coastal service through the Panama Canal in a relatively uneventful career . Hints at cargos she carried during this time can be gleaned from contemporary news reports from the " Los Angeles Times " . In April 1923 , for example , the newspaper ran a report provided by the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce that went into great detail listing the contents of the cargo that " Panaman " had unloaded . The items included items such as of iron conduit pipe , of paper towels and toilet tissue , and of canned hominy . In June 1926 , the newspaper ran a photograph that showed the loading of a $ 1 , 000 prize bull that was beginning its journey from Los Angeles Harbor to Guatemala City aboard " Panaman " . In 1940 , " Panaman " made the news when eleven crewmen mutinied , according to the ship ' s captain . The ship was held up in San Diego for 18 hours because the men refused to obey the captain ' s orders . When an agreement brokered by Harry Lundeberg of the Sailors ' Union of the Pacific was reached , the men followed orders to get the ship to Los Angeles where the union would attempt to settle the issue . But on arrival in Los Angeles Harbor , the ship was boarded by three FBI agents and two representatives of the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation . After interviewing the captain behind closed doors aboard the ship , the FBI turned the investigation over to the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation , whose two investigators conducted a hearing for the eleven men . World War II . After the United States entered World War II , " Panaman " was requisitioned by the War Shipping Administration and frequently sailed in convoys . Though complete records of her sailings are unavailable , partial records indicate some of the ports that " Panaman " visited during the conflict and some of the cargo . From August 1942 to April 1943 , " Panaman " sailed primarily between New York and Caribbean ports , calling at Trinidad , Key West , Hampton Roads , and Guantánamo Bay . One exception to this pattern was in November 1942 when " Panaman " sailed on one roundtrip to Durban , South Africa , returning by way of Bahia . In late April 1943 , " Panaman " sailed from Hampton Roads to Algiers and back , returning to the former in late June . Beginning in July , " Panaman " sailed from either Boston or New York to Halifax and Liverpool for some eight round trips between then and October 1944 . " Panaman " also visited Belfast Lough in March 1944 , Falmouth and Seine Bay in June , and Southampton and Belfast Lough again in July . In October , " Panaman " sailed from New York to Guantánamo Bay . Sources do not reveal where or in what capacity " Panaman " spent the remainder of the war . Later career . After the war ' s end , American - Hawaiian continued operating " Panaman " for about two more years . In December 1946 , the " Chicago Daily Tribune " reported that " Panaman " was speeding to Manila with two men ill with polio . The news article reported that the ship had one man die in Saigon from the disease two months prior . In July the following year , the company sold the " Panaman " to the Italian government . The ship operated under her new name of " Marcella " and remained in Italian hands until she was scrapped on 15 September 1954 at Baltimore .