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By the early 1930s, ''Orizaba''{{'s}} typical route had remained virtually the same, though Nassau and Tampico were dropped as ports of call.<ref name=1933WardLine>{{cite web |title=Proposed sailings and passenger fares |publisher=[[Ward Line|New York and Cuba Mail Steamship Company]] |date=1 June 1933 |url=http://www.timetableimages.com/maritime/images/cml.htm |format=scan and summary of timetable |via=Maritime Timetable Images |access-date=21 January 2008}}</ref> It was in this period that American poet [[Hart Crane]] leapt to his death from ''Orizaba''. At around noon on 27 April 1932, while the ship was headed to New York—some {{convert|275|mi}} north of Havana and {{convert|10|mi}} off the Florida coast—Crane, clad in pajamas and overcoat, climbed the rail at the stern of the ship and plunged into the ocean. The captain of ''Orizaba'' immediately stopped the ship and launched four lifeboats that searched in vain for two hours, but no trace of the poet was ever found. Before he jumped, Crane had been drinking and, the night before, had been the victim of violence after an unwanted pick-up attempt of a crewman ended with a severe beating.<ref name=BrokenTower>Mariani, pp. 418–421.</ref>
[[File:Katharine Hepburn
In 1934, ''Orizaba'' was allocated the Code Letters WECX.<ref name=Orizaba34>{{cite journal |url=http://www.plimsollshipdata.org/pdffile.php?name=34b0634.pdf |title=Lloyd's Register, Steamers and Motorships |journal=Lloyd's Register |year=1934 |publisher=Lloyd's of London |access-date=27 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303221553/http://www.plimsollshipdata.org/pdffile.php?name=34b0634.pdf |archive-date=3 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In April 1934, American actress [[Katharine Hepburn]] sailed from New York on ''Orizaba'', eventually ending up in [[Mérida, Yucatán]]. After her arrival there on 22 April, she filed for divorce from businessman [[Ludlow Ogden Smith|Ludlow ("Luddy") Ogden Smith]], whom she had married in December 1928. After the divorce was finalized she and her travel companion, Laura Harding, planned to spend a week in Havana and return to New York on the Ward Line ship {{SS|Morro Castle|1930|2}}.<ref>{{cite news |last=Menendez |first=Carlos R |title=Katharine Hepburn in Yucatan awaiting action on divorce suit |work=[[The Atlanta Journal-Constitution|The Atlanta Constitution]] |date=2 May 1934 |page=19}}</ref> Other notable passengers on ''Orizaba'' in the 1930s included Ecuadorean diplomat [[Gonzalo Zaldumbide]] and Cuban president [[Fulgencio Batista]]. Zaldumbide, the Ecuadorean [[Minister (diplomacy)|Minister]] to the United States, sailed to Mexico for his new posting as Minister to Mexico in August 1932.<ref>{{cite news |title=Envoys plan leaving city on vacations |
Beginning in the mid-1930s, ''Orizaba'' often carried gold and silver bars from Veracruz to New York for the [[Federal Reserve Bank of New York]], [[Chase National Bank]], or for later transshipment to London. In October 1933 three [[short ton]]s (2.7 [[tonne]]s) of gold bars and coins were shipped on ''Orizaba'' for eventual delivery to London, prompting some to believe that gold was being smuggled into Mexico to take advantage of its policy of not charging [[Duty (economics)|duties]] on gold.<ref>{{cite news |title=Mexico gold smuggling suspected under embargo |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=28 October 1933 |page=2}}<!-- composition, duties, smuggling--></ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Mexican gold to London |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |date=30 October 1933 |page=4}}<!-- eventual destination --></ref> In July 1934 ''Orizaba'' brought in 16 cases of Mexican gold, and in January 1935, 20 cases; in both instances, for delivery to Chase National Bank.<ref>{{cite news |title=Gold arrival |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=11 July 1934 |page=4}}</ref><ref name=WSJ-1935-01-29>{{cite news |title=Gold and silver from Mexico |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=29 January 1935 |page=8}}</ref> Twice in 1935, the Ward liner delivered over 1,000 bars of silver for the Federal Reserve Bank, bringing 1,390 bars in March, and 1,933 bars in July.<ref>{{cite news |title=Silver from Mexico |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=12 March 1935 |page=8}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Silver from Mexico |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=17 July 1935 |page=15}}</ref> Mexico was not the only place from which ''Orizaba'' delivered precious metals. In March 1934, she delivered 12 cases of gold—consisting of 84 bars, and worth $1,624,000—from Havana for Chase.<ref>{{cite news |title=Gold from Cuba |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=22 March 1934 |page=7}}</ref>
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=== The Preamble to Convoy WS-12X (the USA has not declared war on Japan or Germany yet) ===
The [[Atlantic Conference]] was held on 9 August 1941 in [[Placentia Bay, Newfoundland]], between Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Roosevelt. Besides the "official" agenda, Churchill hoped to obtain considerable assistance from the
The chief of Naval Operations ordered troop ships divisions seventeen and nineteen, on 26 September 1941, to prepare their vessels for approximately six months at sea. These transports were to load to capacity with food, ammunition medical supplies, fuel and water and were to arrive at Halifax, NS on or about 6 November and after the arrival of a British convoy from the UK were to load twenty thousand troops. The Prime Minister mentioned in his letter that it would be for the President to say what would be required in replacement if any of these ships were to be sunk by enemy action. Agreements were worked out for the troops to be carried as supernumeraries and rations to be paid out of Lend Lease Funds and officer laundry bills were to be paid in cash. All replenishments of provisions, general stores, fuel and water would be provided by the UK. Fuel and water would be charged for the escorts to the UK in Trinidad and Cape Town only. The troops would conform to US Navy and ships regulation. Intoxicating liquors were prohibited. It was further agreed that the troops were to rig and man their own anti-aircraft guns to augment the ships batteries.<ref name="RonTaylor">{{cite web |last1=Taylor |first1=Ron |title=Convoy William Sail 12X |url=https://www.britain-at-war.org.uk/WW2/Convoy_William_Sail_12x/html/preparations.htm |website=Britain at War |access-date=2022-03-24}}</ref>
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At 650 on 21 December 1941, the [[USS Mount Vernon (AP-22)]] and USS Orizaba detached from the convoy headed for Bombay, and are bound for Mombasa. The remainder of the convoy continued to Bombay under the escort of DORSETSHIRE, arriving on 27 December 1941.
===
Following several months of coastal operations, ''Orizaba'', now armed with two [[5"/38 caliber gun|{{convert|5|in|mm|adj=on}} guns]] and four [[3"/50 caliber gun|{{convert|3|in|mm|adj=on}} guns]], departed New York in April 1942 on the first transatlantic run of her Second World War. Sailing via [[Iceland]], she steamed to [[England]], [[Cape Town]], [[Recife]], and [[Norfolk, Virginia|Norfolk]], [[Virginia]], from which she got underway for [[Bermuda]] and [[Puerto Rico]]. Returning to Norfolk in January 1943, she plied the [[East Coast of the United States|eastern seaboard]] for a month, then took up transatlantic duties again. Until July she traversed the ocean to [[Oran]], [[Algeria]], carrying troops over and prisoners of war back to New York.<ref name=DANFS-Orizaba />
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On 31 July 1947, a day after sailing from Rio de Janeiro for Europe, oil spilled on the ship's boilers, causing an engine-room fire that quickly spread through the first class cabins and killed 27. The ship was towed from its position off [[Cabo Frio]] into Rio de Janeiro on 1 August 1947. The ship had been carrying 1,060 passengers bound for [[Lisbon]], Naples, and [[Marseille]], along with 500 crew members, and had been scheduled to carry Italian refugees on its return voyage.<ref name=NYT-10to20 /><ref name=NYT-shipfire>{{cite news |url=http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50E13F73E5C107A93C0A91783D85F428485F9 |format=fee |title=Ship fire toll now is 27 |work=The New York Times |date=2 August 1946 |access-date=22 January 2008 |page=5}}</ref>
In 1953, ''Duque de Caxias'' was converted into a [[training ship]], and in August of that year began a European and Mediterranean training cruise, which included a 12-day visit to New York in March 1954 as part of its homeward leg.<ref name=NYT-Skipper>{{cite news |url=http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70617FE3C5C177B93C3A91788D85F408585F9 |format=fee |title=Skipper of Brazilian Training Ship Is Greeted Here |work=The New York Times |date=1 March 1954 |access-date=22 January 2008 |page=39}}</ref> The ship visited the United States again in December 1955, with [[midshipman|midshipmen]] aboard who were touring the [[United States Naval Academy]] and who were honored at a cocktail party by the Brazilian Ambassador, João Carlos Muniz, at the Brazilian Embassy in [[Washington, D.C.]]<ref>{{cite news |title=Dinner parties on embassy row |
== Notes ==
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