USS Princess Matoika

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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.

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

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

Kiautschou was sold to North German Lloyd, Bremen, Germany on February, 20 1904 and renamed Princess Alice, after Queen Victoria's granddaughter (not PRINZESS ALICE as NDL and other sources sometimes wrote) for Bremerhaven - Far East service. From April to June 1904 she sailed on the Bremen - New York service. Through 1905 to 1910 she sailed roughly May through July on New York service the rest of the year Bremen - Suez Canal - Far East. Nearing Hong Kong in late July, 1914 Princess Alice was carrying a large quantity of Indian gold, the liner sped to Manila to off-load the gold to the German Consul and then left the port. She met SMS Emden near Angaur, then sought refuge in Cebu, Philippines. On April 6, 1917 Princess Alice was seized by United States Government. She was renamed 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 transporting her first load of troops to Europe. The other ships in the convoy were: Antigone, Kursk, Duca d' Aosta, Pastores, President Lincolin, Caserta, Lenape, Wilhelmina, Covington, Devinsk, Rijndam, and the Dante Alighieri. She was under the command of William Daniel Leahy, who won 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 East bound with 25 troops of HQ. CO. 57th Infantry, 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 at a range of 100 yards off her port quarter a periscope. Her Armed Guard crew opened fire at the target and the Captain took evasive maneuver, which broke off the attack. The Gunnery Officer reported that at least one shot probably hit the periscope.

On July 1, 1918 the USS Princess Matoika was sailing in a West bound convoy of eight transports, escorted by seven destroyers, and was steaming westbound 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 steaming second from the left in the convoy's first row of five transports. The explosion, below her 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.

USS Princess Matoika was turned over to US Shipping Board on September, 16 1919. Sailing New York via Azores to St. Nazaire, France she brought returning soldiers back to the United States. After one voyage she arrived in Charleston, S.C. landing 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 21,216 troops.

USS Princess Matoika in her war time dazzle paint.

She was chartered to United States Mail Steam Ship Company in 1920. It was at this time that she was used by the USA Water Polo Olympic team headed for the Antwerp Olympiad, who wrote of their experience onboard:

"Unfortunately, because the players 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. This ship was the last-minute replacement for 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 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 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 "dirty, vermin-ridden, especially with rats, with poor service, poor quarters, and insufficient sanitary arrangements and incompetent crew."

After a major reconstruction Princess Matoika was changed to 350 cabin class, 500 third class and her new groos tonnage was 10,421. 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. Steerage passengers reponding to the incident were told that the ship had stopped to greet another vessel and that there was no alarm, however, boats were being readied. Princess Matoika was disengaged from the iceberg and continued to Boston instead of New York.

Princess Matoika made six Atlantic crossings between in 1921, the first three from Meditteranean ports the last three from New York - Bremen. In August United States Mail S.S. Co, became United States Lines and Princess Matoika sailed from New York - Bremen under the new Line 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 line 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, her last voyage for United States Lines and she was laid up in Baltimore.

In 1925 President Arthur was sold to American Palestine Line of New York and refitted for U.S. - 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. 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 to10,860 and her new Passenger accomodations were: 445 1st class, 50 3rd class, crew 260. She recieved new boilers, which gave her 11,000 IHP at 17 kn.

On June 4, 1927 she was again renamed City of Honolulu, and was placed in the Los Angeles - Hawaii service as a consort to 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 the passenger accommodations. The fire appeared to have begun in the hair saloon, of a unknown cause. Without injuires, the ship sank at her berth but was raised and it was found that her machinery was still funtioning. October 30, 1930 she sailed back to Los Angeles under her own power, on one engine, without passengers and was laid up. Repair considered but later abandoned due to high cost, and world wide depresion. Declared a total loss and she was laid up. On August 24, 1933 she was sold to shipbreakers in Osaka, Japan and arrived under tow from her fleet mate Calawaii on December 11, 1933.

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

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

This list is only of the known crossings and units that are known to have sailed on her. As I find other recorded voyages I will add them to this list.

Sailing Date	Unit Name	Officers	Enlisted Men
10 May 1918, East bound	HQ, 7th Inf. Brig. (4th Div.)	7	23
	HQ & 2nd & 3d Bns., 47th Inf. (4th Div.)	71	2362
	Automatic Replacements, Engineers		1033
	Casuals Officers	10
15 June 1918 East bound	HQ 57th Inf. Brigade (29th Div)	4	21
	113th Infantry (29th Div.)	102	3416
	27th Division Casuals	6	315
20 December 1918 West bound	HQ 30th Artillery Brigade C.A.C.
9 March 1919 West bound	37th Engineers
April 1919 West bound	Unknown units		5,000
20 July 1919 West bound	E.A.C. No. 8
	4th Co. 166th Depot Brigade
	Elements of the 161st Infantry