President Cleveland was acquired by the War Department and renamed Tasker H. Bliss and converted into a troop transport which served in the Pacific immediately preceding and after outbreak of the war. She was acquired from the United States Army by the United States Navy for war use, commissioned USS Tasker H. Bliss on 15 September 1942, and designated as transport AP-42. On 12 November 1942, while supporting Operation Torch of the North African campaign she was sunk after being struck by a German submarine’s torpedo at Fedala Bay, Morocco. From the 235 men on board, 31 died in the sinking or afterwards from their wounds.[1]
Golden State, one of the Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) Design 1029 ships, often called in the trade "535s" for their length overall, planned as a troop transport, but redesigned and built as a passenger and cargo ship, with yard hull number 256, was launched 17 July 1920 in Newport News, Virginia, by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company and completed in 1921 assigned United States official number 220485.
Golden State was originally owned by the United States Shipping Board (USSB), allocated to and operated by its agents. The ship was renamed President Cleveland by May 1921 and was eventually owned and operated as a passenger liner by the American President Lines.
The USSB first placed the ship in service with Pacific Mail Steamship Company for service between San Francisco and Asia with the ship arriving 7 March 1921, second after sister ship Hawkeye State operated by Matson Navigation Company arrived on 5 March in what some described as a race from Baltimore, but the company noted was not as Golden State made several more port calls on the voyage. By December 1923, the ship, now President Cleveland, was operating with sailings every 14 days from San Francisco to Honolulu, Japan, China, and the Philippines in a route dubbed "The Sunshine Belt to the Orient" with President Lincoln, President Pierce, President Taft, and President Wilson. As late as May 1925, the ships were seen as USSB vessels of the California Orient Line operated by Pacific Mail Steamship Company, but the next month those vessels were seen in an advertisement headed "Now serving the transpacific and round-the-world fleets of Dollar Steamship Line.
Robert Stanley Dollar, son of the founder Captain Robert Dollar, had already acquired a fleet of the smaller Design 1095 ships, commonly known in the trade as "502s" or less frequently as "522s" for their length between perpendiculars and overall, respectively, and established a successful service circling the globe with 22 port calls when the government approached the company about purchase of the larger "535s". President Cleveland and the other former USSB ships of Pacific Mail's fleet continued to operate in this service until 1938 when the United States Maritime Commission, successor to the USSB, judged the Dollar company unsound and took over the assets including the ships to be operated by a new company, American President Lines. The seven "502s" were to remain on the Round the World service while the five "535s" along with larger and newer ship were to go into New York-San Francisco-Asiatic service for American President Lines.
One of the ship's most famous passengers was the Nobel Prize–winning author Sigrid Undset, who fled the Nazis by travelling across Russia and sailed to the USA on the President Cleveland.[2]
The American President liner President Cleveland was chartered by the U.S. Army in July 1941 and renamed USAT Tasker H. Bliss for General Tasker H. Bliss, who was Army Chief of Staff in 1917 to 1918. The ship was quickly converted at San Francisco into a troop transport and made an initial voyage to Alaska by way of Seattle. After returning to San Francisco in August, Bliss made quick turn around for a voyage to Manila by way of Honolulu and Guam, returning in September 1941. In October 1941, Bliss made another round trip to Manila, and after voyage repairs and additional alterations at San Francisco, made a round trip to Hawaii.
After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, reinforcement of Hawaii was extremely urgent and shipments were hurriedly organized. A convoy composed of,, and left San Francisco on 16 December 1941 transporting troops, ammunition, and pursuit aircraft with Bliss and departing on 17 December with troops, aircraft, and supplies. A voyage to Australia and the ports of Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney followed before Bliss returned to San Francisco in April 1942 to make another round trip to Hawaii before sailing again for Australia and New Zealand. From there, Bliss departed in June 1942 for Baltimore by way of the Panama Canal, Guantanamo, Key West, and Hampton Roads.
The ship was transferred to the U.S. Navy on 19 August 1942 at Baltimore, where she was converted for use as a Navy transport by the Maryland Drydock Co., Baltimore, Maryland, and commissioned on 15 September 1942 as USS Tasker H. Bliss designated as transport AP-42.
Tasker H. Bliss arrived at Norfolk, Virginia, on 22 September and joined Task Force 34 (TF 34). After loading troops and equipment to participate in Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa, the ships of the task force sailed on 24–25 October for the coast of Morocco. The ship was assigned to Task Group 34.9 (TG 34.9), Center Attack Group, and arrived off Fedhala, Morocco on 8 November. During the landings, Bliss had to re-embark the 3d Reconnaissance Troop of 1st Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment after a failed night attack to destroy a heavy antiaircraft gun battery at Beach Yellow, on Cap de Fedala southwest of the town of Fedhala.
The Naval Battle of Casablanca delayed off-loading cargo, and postponed departure from the Moroccan coast. On the evening of 12 November 1942, she was riding at anchor in Fedhala Roads when the Kriegsmarine submarine commanded by Ernst Kals slipped in among the ships and fired five torpedoes at three transports. All torpedoes hit their targets, and they burst into flames. The victims were transports,, and Tasker H. Bliss. All were abandoned and the first two sank shortly, but Tasker H. Bliss burned until 02:30 the next morning and then sank. There were 31 casualties. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 7 December.
Tasker H. Bliss received one battle star for World War II service.