{"nrhp_refnum":"76000495","name":"S.S. CATALINA","other_names":["Great White Steamer"],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"Berth 96, Los Angeles Harbor","address_restricted":false,"city":"San Pedro","county":"Los Angeles County","state":"CA","lat":33.74955561000007,"lon":-118.27402213599999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-09-01","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Military","Engineering","Transportation"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A steam passenger ferry, the S.S. Catalina (the 'Great White Steamer'), built in 1924 for the Catalina Island run and berthed at Berth 96 in Los Angeles Harbor, San Pedro, California.","why_significant":"The ship was built for William Wrigley's service to Catalina Island and is the only surviving vessel of the original fleet. She carried more troops than any other Army transport in World War II, with 820,199 men. She also has what the nomination calls the only operational triple expansion reciprocating steam engine under U.S. registry.","narrative":"Berthed at Berth 96 in Los Angeles Harbor, the S.S. Catalina is a steel passenger steamer christened on May 23, 1924, for the run to Catalina Island. She is about 301 feet long, carried up to 1,950 passengers on three decks, and had a ballroom with a live orchestra, a leather-furnished salon deck and a stateroom for William Wrigley. Her twenty lifeboats were placed on a lower deck to leave the top deck clear for viewing and to improve stability. The vessel mattered for two reasons. In World War II she served as a troop carrier around San Francisco and carried 820,199 men, more than any other Army transport. She was also the first harbor craft in the San Francisco Bay area with navigational radar. After the war she returned to the island service and outlasted her sister ships. Her original triple expansion steam engine is described as the only operational one under U.S. registry. Ferry runs ended in 1975.","period_of_significance":"1924-present","architect_builder":"Builder: Babcock and Wilcox; engine builder: Hoover-Owens and Rentschlor of Hamilton, Ohio","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"The ship stopped making ferry runs in the summer of 1975 but was reported to be in excellent operating condition and not being used for anything at the time. She rests at Berth 96.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:32.022015-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/76000495.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76000495/6309eed029-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76000495/6309eed029-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Tomascastelazo","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ss_catalina_01.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Tomascastelazo</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ss_catalina_01.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123859477","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Catalina","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7393340"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/los-angeles-county/s-s-catalina-76000495/"}