USS Hugh L . Scott ( AP - 43 ) USS " Hugh L . Scott " ( AP - 43 ) was a ship . She was built in 1921 and spent 20 years in merchant service as a passenger and cargo liner . She was acquired for the United States Navy shortly before the USA entered the Second World War , served as a troopship in Operation Torch in November 1942 , and was sunk by a U - boat four days later . Building . The vessel was designed to be a troopship , ordered by the USSB from Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation , Sparrows Point , Maryland , and laid down in 1920 . Her intended name was to be " Berrien , " but when she was launched on 17 April 1921 , it was as " Hawkeye State " . " Hawkeye State " was a turbine steamship , with four steam turbines driving twin propeller shafts by single reduction gearing . These gave her a speed of up to – as fast as many ocean liners of her era . Civilian service . In 1921 , Matson Line ran " Hawkeye State " between Baltimore and Honolulu " via " the Panama Canal and California . In 1922 , she passed to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company , which was taken over by Robert Dollar in 1925 . She was then transferred to Dollar Steamship Company , which renamed her " President Pierce " . In 1938 , Dollar was reorganised as American President Lines . Routes with Dollar Lines . Dollar Line put " President Pierce " on trans - Pacific services between San Francisco and the Far East until 1931 , when she was switched to a round - the - world service . Her first circumnavigation began at New York on 19 November 1931 , going " via " the Panama Canal , California , Japan , China , Malaya , Ceylon , the Suez Canal , the Mediterranean and thence back to New York . She completed a total of five such trips , beginning her final one from New York on 2 June 1933 . SS " President Hoover " . Early on the morning of 11 December 1937 , a much larger Dollar Lines ship , the ocean liner , ran aground in a typhoon on Kasho - to , east of Formosa . " Hoover " s 330 crew got their 503 passengers and themselves safely ashore without loss , but the 853 people now needed to be taken off the remote island . The task was shared between " President Pierce " and American Mail Line ' s SS " President McKinley " . " McKinley " , assisted by the , collected about 630 people from Kasho - to on 14 December . " Pierce " collected the remaining 200 people on 15 December . War service . On 31 July 1941 , " President Pierce " was taken over for the US Army , which renamed her USAT " Hugh L . Scott " after General Hugh L . Scott , who was Army Chief of Staff 1914 – 17 . She made four voyages to the Far East before sailing to the US East Coast in July 1942 . On 14 August 1942 , she was transferred to the US Navy and converted into an attack transport by Tietjen and Long of Hoboken , New Jersey . On 7 September 1942 , she was commissioned as USS " Hugh L . Scott " , under the command of Captain Harold J . Wright . " Hugh L . Scott " took part in Operation Torch , the Allied invasion of French North Africa . As part of Transport Division 3 ( TransDiv 3 ) , she sailed on 24 October after intensive amphibious training . She approached the beaches at Fedhala , French Morocco , early on the morning of 8 November and – after bombardment by surface ships – landed her troops . She then cleared the immediate invasion area and did not return until 11 November , when she entered the refueling area and then anchored in the exposed Fedhala roadstead to unload her supplies . Sunk by U - boat . The Naval Battle of Casablanca delayed the off - loading of " Hugh L . Scott " s cargo and her departure from the Moroccan coast . On the evening of 11 November , slipped inside the protective screen and torpedoed transport , tanker and destroyer . " Hugh L . Scott " and the other transports were at battle stations all night and resumed unloading the next day . That afternoon , 12 November , another submarine , , commanded by Ernst Kals , torpedoed " Hugh L . Scott " , , and . " Hugh L . Scott " , hit on the starboard side , burst into flames and foundered , but owing to the availability of landing craft for rescue , casualties were limited to eight officers and 51 men . " U - 173 " was later sunk by destroyers , but " U - 130 " escaped .