USS Princess Matoika

USS Princess Matoika (ID-2290) under way in 1919
History
German Empire
Name	1900: SS Kiautschou 1904: SS Princess Alice
Namesake	1900: Kiautschou, German colony in China 1904: One or all of (see text): Princess Alice, daughter of Queen Victoria Princess Alice of Albany, granddaughter of Queen Victoria Alice Roosevelt, daughter of Theodore Roosevelt nicknamed "Princess Alice" Pocahontas nicknamed "Matoika"
Owner	1900: HAPAG 1904: North German Lloyd (NDL)
Port of registry	1900: Hamburg 1904: Bremen
Route	1900: Hamburg–Far East 1904: Bremen–New York 1905–05: Bremen–Suez Canal–Far East 1905–10: Bremen–Cherbourg–New York 1910–1914: Bremen–Suez Canal–Far East
Builder	AG Vulcan Stettin, Stettin, Germany (present-day Szczecin, Poland)
Launched	14 September 1900
Maiden voyage	Hamburg–Far East, 25 December 1900
Fate	Interned at Cebu, Philippines, 1914; seized by United States, April 1917
United States
Name	1918: USS Princess Matoika (ID-2290) 1919: USAT Princess Matoika
Namesake	Princess Matoika (variant spelling of given name of Pocahontas)
Owner	1918: United States Navy 1919: War Department
Operator	1918: U.S. Navy 1919: U.S. Army
Acquired	seized by United States, April 1917
In service	19 September 1919
Out of service	After September 1920
Fate	Transferred to United States Shipping Board
United States
Name	1921: SS Princess Matoika 1922: SS President Arthur 1926: SS City of Honolulu
Namesake	1922: Chester A. Arthur, 21st U.S. President 1926: City of Honolulu
Owner	1921: United States Shipping Board 1924: American Palestine Line 1926: Los Angeles Steamship Company (LASSCO)
Operator	January 1921: United States Mail Steamship Line August 1921: United States Lines 1924: American Palestine Line 1926: Los Angeles Steamship Company
Route	January 1921: New York–Naples–Genoa May 1921: New York–Bremen 1923: (laid up) 1925: New York–Naples–Haifa 1927: Los Angeles–Hawaii 1930: (laid up)
Fate	Burned, 1930; sold for scrap, 1934
General characteristics
Class and type	Barbarossa-class ocean liner[3]
Tonnage	As built: 10,911 GRT[2] 1921: 10,421 GRT[5] 1926: 10,680 GRT[6]
Displacement	20,500 t[1]
Length	1900: 159.55 m (523 ft 5 in)[2] 1904: 166.10 m (544 ft 11 in)[4]
Beam	18.32 m (60 ft 1 in)[2] 1918: 61 ft (19 m)[1]
Draft	1918: 29 ft 6 in (8.99 m)[1]
Propulsion	Twin screws 2 quadruple-expansion steam engines[2]
Speed	1900: 15 knots (28 km/h)[2] 1904: 15.5 knots (28.7 km/h)[4] 1918: 16 knots (30 km/h)[1] 1925: 19.7 knots (36.5 km/h), maximum[9] 1926: 16 knots (30 km/h)[6]
Capacity	Passengers (as built):[4] 327 first class 103 second class 80 third class 1,700 steerage 1904:[4] 255 first class 115 second class 1,666 steerage 1921:[5] 350 cabin class 500 third class 1925:[8] 675 passengers 1927:[6] 450 first class 50 third class Cargo: 4,000 short tons (3,600 t)[8]
Troops	1918:[7] 3,500 3,900 after Armistice
Complement	1918: 449[1]
Crew	1904: 207–248[4] 1921: 260[5]
Armament	1918: 4 × 6-inch (150 mm) guns[1]

USS Princess Matoika (ID-2290) was a transport ship for the United States Navy during World War I. Before the war, she was a Barbarossa-class ocean liner that sailed as SS Kiautschou for the Hamburg America Line and as SS Princess Alice (sometimes spelled Prinzess Alice) for North German Lloyd. After the war she served as the United States Army transport ship USAT Princess Matoika. In post-war civilian service she was SS Princess Matoika until 1922, SS President Arthur until 1927, and SS City of Honolulu until she was scrapped in 1933.

Built in 1900 for the German Far East mail routes, SS Kiautschou traveled between Hamburg and Far East ports for most of her Hamburg America Line career. In 1904, she was traded to competitor North German Lloyd for five freighters, and renamed SS Princess Alice. She sailed both transatlantic and Far East mail routes until the outbreak of World War I, when she was interned in the neutral port of Cebu in the Philippines. Seized by the U.S. in 1917, the newly renamed USS Princess Matoika carried thousands of U.S. troops to and from France in U.S. Navy service from 1918 to 1919. As an Army transport after that, she continued to return troops and repatriated the remains of Americans killed overseas in the war. In July 1920 she was a last-minute substitute to carry a large portion of the United States team to the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp. 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 of the American Olympic Committee in an action known today as the Mutiny of the Matoika.

After her Army career ended, Princess Matoika was transferred to the United States Mail Steamship Line for European passenger service in early 1921. After that company's financial troubles resulted in her seizure, Princess Matoika was assigned to the newly formed United States Lines and resumed passenger service. In 1922 the ship was renamed SS President Arthur, in honor of the 21st U.S. President, Chester A. Arthur. When changes in U.S. laws severely curtailed the number of immigrants that could enter the country in the early 1920s, the ship was laid up in Baltimore in late 1923.

President Arthur was purchased in October 1924 by the Jewish-owned American Palestine Line to begin regular service between New York, Naples, and Palestine. 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. Financial difficulties for American Palestine ended the service after three roundtrips, and the liner was sold to the Los Angeles Steamship Company for Los Angeles–Honolulu service. Following three years of carrying tourists and freight, the liner burned in Honolulu Harbor in 1930. She was deemed too expensive to repair and was eventually scrapped in Japan in 1933.