USS Princess Matoika

SP2290: Displacement: 10,911 gross tons; Length: 544 ft. 11in.; Beam: 61 ft.; Draft: 29 ft. 6 in.; Speed: 16 k.-twin screws; Passengers: 327 1st class, 103 2nd, 80 3rd class, 1,700 steerage; Crew: 230; Armament: four 6-inch deck guns.

USS Princess Matoika soon after she was taken over by the US Navy.

Her intended name was Borussia until October of 1899, when her name was changed again in November of 1899 to Teutonia. But when she was launched at the Vulcan Yards, Stettin, Germany on September 14, 1900 her name had again been changed to Kiautschou. She was completed on December 14, and sailed December 22, 1900 on her maiden voyage on the Hamburg-Far East mail service. Kiautschou made one round trip transatlantic voyage, February 5, 1902, on the Hamburg-Southampton-Cherbourg-New York route. The Hamburg America Line withdrew from the Far East express mail service after differences with NDL in 1903, continuing with cargo service only.

In early 1904 the Hamburg America Line decided to trade the Kiautschou to their competitors the North German Lloyd Company of Bremen. The trade was made, Kiautschou for five North German Lloyd freighters and her new owners changed her name on February 20, 1904 from Kiautschou to Princess Alice, after Queen Victoria's granddaughter. Her new duties were on the Bremerhaven-Far East service route. But from April to June 1904 she was assigned to sail on the Bremen-New York service. From 1905 through 1910 she sailed roughly May through July on New York service and the rest of the year on the Bremen-Suez Canal-Far East route.

On June 28, 1914, Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated, and as the growing tensions between the European nations was growing into an ever-widening conflict this brought the German Flagged Princess Alice into this fight. In late July of 1914 Princess Alice was steaming near Hong Kong her intended destintion with a quantity of Indian gold. For fear of being interned in the British port of Hong Kong she steamed quickly on and made port in Manila where she off-loaded the gold to the German Consul and then left the port quickly. She set a course for the Philippine Sea and the Palau Islands group where she rendezvoused with the German light cruiser SMS Emden in the waters off Angaur Island in late August 1914. It is not known what the exact reason for this meeting was but being that the Emden was a German surface raider, Princess Alice may have re-supplied the Emden. It is also known that during this same time the Emden did disguise herself by adding a dummy fourth smokestack in order to closely resemble the British cruiser HMS Yarmouth, so it is possible that the Princess Alice had some role in this event.

Because of her German Flag she may have been in danger of being sunk or captured if she tried to return to Germany so Princess Alice sought relative safety in the neutral port of Cebu, Philippines. There she remained interned until seized by United States Government on April 6, 1917. The U.S. Navy quickly pressed her into service after repairs to be used as a troopship as they were desperate for ship tonnage to transport the Army across the Atlantic to the war in Europe. The United States Navy renamed her USS Princess Matoika, after a member of the Philippine Royal family.

On May 10, 1918 Princess Matoika was part of a large convoy of 13 ships sailing Eastbound across the Atlantic transporting her first load of troops to Europe. The other ships in the convoy were: Antigone, Kursk, Duca d' Aosta, Pastores, President Lincoln, Caserta, Lenape, Wilhelmina, Covington, Devinsk, Rijndam, and the Dante Alighieri. She was under the command of William Daniel Leahy, who was awarded the Navy Cross as commander of Princess Matoika while transporting troops to France. Leahy later became the Governor of Puerto Rico, and the Ambassador to France in 1940.

On the 15th of June 1918 she sailed again eastbound with 25 officers and men of the 57th Infantry Headquarters Company, 102 officers and 3,416 enlisted men of the 113th Infantry and 321 casual troops of the 27th Division. On her second day out at 11:28 in the morning on 16 June she sighted a periscope at a range of 100-yards off her port quarter. Her armed guard crew opened fire at the target as Captain Leahy took evasive maneuvers, which broke off the attack. The gunnery officer aboard the Princess Matoika reported that at least one shot probably hit the periscope of the U-boat.

On July 1, 1918 the USS Princess Matoika was steaming in a westbound convoy of eight transports, escorted by seven destroyers, some 150-miles southwesterly from Brest, France, bound back to the United States after having delivered more fresh troops for the fighting on the Western Front. The Transports in this convoy were Dekalb, Covington, Mercury, George Washington, Rijndam, Lenape, Dante Aleghieri, Princess Matoika and Wilhelmina. The escorting destroyers were Little, Conner, Cummings, Porter, Jarvis, Smith and Roe. The sea was calm with good visibility, and all ships were zigzagging with lookout positions and guns manned as a precaution against the always-present menace of German submarines. The threat made its presence known at 9:12 PM, when a torpedo launched from U-86 detonated against the port side of the Covington, which was steaming second from the left in the convoy's first row of five transports. The torpedo hit below the Covington's forward smokestack, blew open the ship's forward boiler room, and she soon came to a halt as the rest of the convoy split up and continued on.

At the end of WWI USS Princess Matoika was used to return soldiers from Europe and bring the remains of Americans killed overseas in the war back home. Sailing from New York via Azores to St. Nazaire, France she loaded returning soldiers for transportation back to the United States. After one voyage she arrived in Charleston, S.C. off loading some 5,000 troops on April 26, 1919. On a following voyage from Charleston she sailed with 2,200 German prisoners who had been interned in the United States during the War, landing them at Rotterdam. She sailed to Breast, France and returned to New York with more American soldiers. During World War I, she transported some 50,000 troops to and from France.

When she finished her trooping duties for the Army she was chartered to the United States Mail Steam Ship Company in 1920 European passenger service. In July 1920, she was a last-minute substitute to carry a large portion of the United States Olympic team to the 1920 Summer Olympics held in Antwerp. Unfortunately, because the water polo team came from all over the country, practice was virtually impossible and the first time the team actually trained together was in a 12' by 9' swimming tank specially constructed on the deck of the Princess Matoika.

The ship that was carrying the United States Olympic Team to Antwerp was the USS Northern Pacific, an up-to-date, fast-moving passenger liner, which had been damaged on her voyage to New York. The Princess Matoika was a lat moment stand in and she was ancient, slow moving, and far from ideal, but there were no other options for the Olympic Committee. The athletes learned of the change at the farewell meeting hours before embarking and were told to accept the difficulties "in the spirit of sportsmanship and of making the best of things." As the American star of the Games, winning three gold medals in swimming, and a WWI veteran and war hero, Norman "Moose" Ross was the chosen leader of the successful post game strike against the Princess Matoika, a ship that was in his words "dirty, vermin-ridden, especially with rats, with poor service, poor quarters, and insufficient sanitary arrangements and incompetent crew." From the perspective of the Olympic team, the trip was disastrous and a majority of the team members published a list of grievances and demands to the American Olympic Committee in an action known today as the Mutiny of the Matoika.

After a major reconstruction Princess Matoika was changed to 350-cabin class, 500-third class and her new gross tonnage was altered to 10,421-tons. Her first voyage under this new configuration was on the New York-Naples-Genoa service on January 19, 1921 under agreement with United States Shipping Board for the provision of a Mediterranean service. On February 24, 1921, while on a voyage from Naples to New York, Princess Matoika struck an iceberg. Her steerage passengers were told that the ship had just stopped to greet another vessel and that there was no alarm, however, lifeboats were being readied. Princess Matoika was disengaged from the iceberg and continued to Boston instead of New York.

Princess Matoika made six Atlantic crossings during 1921 the first three from Mediterranean ports to New York the last three from Bremen, Germany to New York. The United States Mail Steam Ship Company began to have financial troubles in August 1921, which resulted in the seizure of the Princess Matoika. The United States Mail Steam Ship Company assets were divested and the Princess Matoika was then assigned to the newly formed United States Lines and resumed passenger service. Princess Matoika sailed from New York to Bremen, Germany under the new United States Lines on September 15,1921. In January 1922 she arrived in the USA from Danzig and Bremen via Plymouth, England.

For sake of uniformity with other ships of the United States Lines Princess Matoika was renamed President Arthur in the Spring of 1922, to match the names of the new 535-foot type vessels. President Arthur continued Atlantic service between Danzig - Bremen - Cherbourg - Plymouth - Queenstown to New York route until she sailed into New York on November 1, 1923, which was her last voyage for United States Lines. Because of changes in U.S. laws that severely curtailed the number of immigrants that could enter the country in the early 1920s, the President Arthur was laid up in Baltimore.

In 1925 President Arthur was sold to American Palestine Line of New York and refitted for New York - Palestine service. Her intended name was White Palace but her name remained President Arthur. Her first voyage under the American Palestine Line, was on the New York - Naples - Haifa service on March 12, 1925, returning to New York from Levant, Lebanon May 8th. On her maiden voyage to Palestine, she reportedly became the first ocean liner to fly the Zionist flag at sea and the first ocean liner ever to have female officers. After only three voyages the ship was withdrawn from service due to low patronage and poor freight loads and was laid up at Staten Island, New York. In December of 1925 the assets of the company were auctioned to C. L. Dimon, New York.

In 1926 she was acquired by the Los Angeles Steam Ship Co. and sailed through the Panama Canal to be fitted out as a luxury liner at the San Pedro Shipyard of the Los Angeles Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Corp. Her new gross tonnage was again changed to 10,860-tons and her new passenger accommodations were: 445-First class, 50-third class, and a crew of 260. She was refitted with new boilers, which gave her engines an estimated 11,000-horsepower that propelled her at a speed of 17-knots.

On June 4, 1927 President Arthur was again renamed City of Honolulu, and was placed in the Los Angeles - Hawaii service with fleet mates the City of Los Angeles (her distant relative a former NGL Liner and the formerly named USS Aeolus) and Calawaii. She proved popular and successful until May 25, 1930 when a serious fire in Honolulu destroyed a large portion of her passenger accommodations. The fire appeared to have begun in the hair saloon, of an unknown cause. Without injuries, the ship sank at her berth but was raised and it was found that her machinery was still functioning. October 30, 1930 she sailed back to Los Angeles under her own power, on one engine, without passengers and was laid up there. Repair was considered but later abandoned due to high cost, and world wide depression she was declared a total loss and she was laid up for the last time. On August 24, 1933 she was sold to ship-breakers in Osaka, Japan and arrived under-tow from her fleet mate Calawaii on December 11, 1933.

USS Princess Matoika in her war time dazzle paint.

Princess Matoika in Hampton Roads, Virginia in May of 1919.

Below is a list of crossings that the Princess Matoika made during WWI