SS President Arthur

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"
Owner:	1900: Hamburg America Line (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
History
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
Commissioned:	before April 1918
Decommissioned:	19 September 1919
In service:	19 September 1919
Out of service:	after September 1920
Struck:	19 September 1919
Fate:	transferred to USSB
History
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 (USSB) 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; scrapped 1934
General characteristics
Class and type:	Barbarossa-class ocean liner
Tonnage:	As built: 10,911 GRT 1921: 10,421 GRT 1926: 10,680 GRT
Displacement:	20,500 t
Length:	1900: 159.55 m (523 ft 5 in) 1904: 166.10 m (544 ft 11 in)
Beam:	18.32 m (60 ft 1 in) 1918: 61 ft (19 m)
Draft:	1918: 29 ft 6 in (8.99 m)
Propulsion:	Twin screws 2 quadruple-expansion steam engines
Speed:	1900: 15 knots (28 km/h) 1904: 15.5 knots (28.7 km/h) 1918: 16 knots (30 km/h) 1925: 19.7 knots (36.5 km/h), maximum 1926: 16 knots (30 km/h)
Capacity:	Passengers (as built): 327 first class 103 second class 80 third class 1,700 steerage 1904: 255 first class 115 second class 1,666 steerage 1921: 350 cabin class 500 third class 1925: 675 passengers 1927: 450 first class 50 third class Cargo: 4,000 short tons (3,600 t)
Troops:	1918: 3,500 3,900 after Armistice
Complement:	1918: 449
Crew:	1904: 207–248 1921: 260
Armament:	1918: 4 × 6-inch (150 mm) guns

1918:

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 her World War I Navy service ended, 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 over 50,000 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.