SS Caserta

SS Caserta was an Italian ocean liner named for the city of Caserta in the Campania region of Italy. She was previously known as SS Maritzburg and SS Mendoza, and was later renamed SS Venezuela. Launched in 1904 as Maritzburg for the Bucknall Line, the ship was sold to Lloyd Italiano in 1905 and renamed Mendoza. Renamed Caserta in 1914, she was placed under the Navigazione Generale Italiana banner in 1918. During World War I she was employed as a troopship carrying United States troops to France as part of the United States Navy Cruiser and Transport Force. In 1923, she was renamed Venezuela and transferred to La Veloce for South American service, but reverted to NGI control in 1924. She was scrapped in 1928. SS Maritzburg, an ocean liner with a , was built in 1904 by Sir W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth and Company of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Sailing for the Bucknall Line during her first year of operation, the liner was sold in 1905 to Lloyd Italiano and renamed SS Mendoza. Mendoza completed one trip to New York in January 1908, and two trips in September and October 1909. For the next two years, she began service to New York in May and continued through December. Beginning in May 1912, Mendoza began year-round service on the New York route, sailing opposite . In 1914, the ship was renamed SS Caserta after the city of Caserta, Italy, and continued New York service opposite Taormina. In May 1915, Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary, and ships from New York to Italy often carried Italian immigrants returning to fight for their homeland. One voyage of Caserta was typical; she sailed from New York on 1 November carrying some 1,200 men, nearly all of whom were, according to an article in The New York Times, reservists of the Italian Army. Before her 1 February 1916 arrival in New York, Caserta had been armed with two guns mounted on her after deckhouse, and manned by two gunners mates and two assistants. Caserta had been escorted by Italian Navy torpedo boats until she reached Gibraltar.