SS Monterey

The SS "Monterey" was a luxury ocean liner launched October 10 1931; one of four ships in the Matson Lines "White Fleet" which included SS "Malolo", SS "Mariposa" and SS "Lurline". "Monterey", the third of four Matson ships designed by William Francis Gibbs was identical to "Mariposa" and very similar to her sister ship "Lurline".

Career with Matson Lines

"Monterey" was built to promote travel to Hawaii and for Pacific Ocean liner service including regular stops in ports along the West Coast of the United States, Samoa, Fiji, New Zealand and Australia. On May 12 1932 she took 83 passengers from New York City to the West Coast on a positioning cruise. Her maiden voyage officially began June 3 1932 in San Francisco, California after which she made stops in Los Angeles, Honolulu, Auckland, Pago Pago, Suva, Sydney and Melbourne. She scored a public relations triumph when she carried much-appreciated supplies to the "Bear of Oakland" on Byrd's second expedition to the South Pole. [ [http://www.maritimematters.com/britanis.html Maritime Matters. "S.S. BELOFIN-1: MONTEREY, MATSONIA, LURLINE, BRITANIS"] ]

War service

In World War II "Monterey" served as a fast troop carrier, often operating alone so she wouldn't be slowed by formation navigation in a convoy. The United States Marine Corps chartered her in 1941 before US declaration of war to carry 150 Chinese, Korean and Japanese missionaries and stranded US citizens back to San Francisco. Once home, she was quickly refitted to hold 3,500 soldiers. On December 16 1941 she steamed to Hawaii with 3,349 fresh troops, returning with 800 casualties of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

On 22nd August 1942, the ship was briefly acquired by the US Navy for use as a troopship and assigned the name/designation USS "Alameda" (AP-68). However, she was returned to the War Shipping Administration on 25 September 1942 and thus never served under that name. [ [http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/22/22068.htm USS "Alameda" AP-68] , Navsource Online.] [ [http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/a4/alameda.htm DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. "Alameda"] ]

War voyages

*1942 San Diego to Pago Pago filled to capacity with Marines [ [http://www.armed-guard.com/troop15.html "Troopships of World War II" by Roland W. Charles. Scan of page 226: "Monterey"] ]
*February 17 1942 San Francisco to Brisbane with 4,000 Army troops; convoy with "Matsonia" and "Mormacsea" [ [http://www.oceanlinermuseum.co.uk/Monterey%201932%20History.html Ocean Liner Museum. "S/S" Monterey] ] [ [http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2Navy-c19.html New Zealand Electronic Text Centre. "CHAPTER 19 — Turn of the Tide in the Pacific"] ]
*March 9 1942 arrived Brisbane
*April 22 1942 left San Francisco for Adelaide, Panama, Key West
*July 1 1942 New York to Glasgow with 5,800 troops
*August 9 1942 New York to Glasgow with 6,000 troops
*November 2 1942 convoy New York to Casablanca, arrived November 16 1942
*January 14 1943 left New York in a convoy to Casablanca; arrived January 25
*March 5 1943 New York to Casablanca
*April 1 1943 sailed alone to Casablanca; arrived April 12
*April 29 1943 New York to Casablanca
*June 2 1943 New York to Panama
*June 26 1943 San Francisco to Brisbane, Panama
*1943 New York to Brazil
*August 21 1943 New York to Oran with the highest number of soldiers for a Matson ship: 6,855. Traveled in convoy.
*October 8 1943 New York to Liverpool with 6,747 troops; on to Gibraltar and Naples in convoy of 43 ships.
**The voyage to Naples was her first taste of combat. 25 planes attacked the convoy on November 6 1943 off the coast of Algeria. An enemy bomber tore away some of "Monterey"'s radio mast before crashing into the ocean. In convoy, the Grace Line troopship "Santa Elena" was torpedoed and began to sink. "Monterey" rescued 1,675 using her boats and nets, taking the survivors to Naples. [ [http://www.maritimematters.com/britanis.html Maritime Matters. "Britanis"] ]
*July 1944 Milne Bay to Oro Bay; ran aground, troops offloaded, ship refloated with the tide
*January 20 1945 left San Francisco with US and Canadian troops for New Guinea
*February 4 1945 arrived Finschafen Harbor, New Guinea [ [http://www.bookfinder.com/dir/i/Troopship_Monterey/1591130220/ Harry E. Quigley. "Troopship Monterey" Booklocker.com, December 2001. ISBN:1591130220] ]

Post-war name changes

On September 26 1946 the "Monterey" arrived at Bethlehem-Alameda Shipyard in Alameda, California for refitting and return to passenger service with Matson. Money ran out on the project after 30% of the work had been completed. For five years she sat idle in Alameda, then was purchased by the US Government in August 1952. She was towed to the mothball fleet in nearby Suisun Bay.

"Monterey" to "Matsonia"

Meanwhile, Matson was enjoying fair post-war success with "Lurline" and was looking to expand their passenger operation once more. Matson had a C4 "Mariner" class vessel undergoing conversion to a cruise ship for the Oceania and Australasia region; this ship was originally named "Free State Mariner" but Matson had renamed her "Monterey". [ [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/mariner-unit.htm Mariner class vessels] ] Matson bought the old mothballed "SS Monterey" back from the US Government on February 3 1956 and had to come up with a new name for her: she was rechristened "SS Matsonia", replacing their earlier "Matsonia" which had been sold to Home Lines in 1954 and subsequently renamed. The new "Matsonia" (ex-"Monterey") first sailed from New York to San Francisco on May 22 1957 to team up with her sister "Lurline" on the San Francisco-Los Angeles-Honolulu run.

"Matsonia" to "Lurline"

Within five years, profits from passenger service had fallen to the point where Matson decided to anchor "Matsonia" indefinitely in San Francisco Bay. Sister ship "Lurline" continued to operate but suffered a major turbine problem in February, 1963; one that would require costly repairs. Instead of repairing "Lurline", Matson sold the well-loved ship to Chandris Lines to be rechristened "Ellinis". Stung from poor public opinion regarding the maneuver, Matson rechristened the former "Matsonia" (ex-"Monterey") as the new "Lurline" on December 6 1963 and returned her to service.

"Lurline" to "Britanis"

By 1970, passenger receipts were down so low that Matson chose to cease liner service altogether. On June 25 1970, "Lurline" arrived in San Francisco to be sold to Chandris Lines. Five days later she steamed under new ownership out of the Golden Gate toward Piraeus with the new name "Britanis".

ervice with Chandris Lines

At Piraeus, "Britanis" was greatly modified to hold 1,655 passengers, mainly by subdividing existing cabins and converting cargo holds to new cabin areas. She re-entered service on February 21 1971, leaving Southampton bound for Sydney and back; a regular roundtrip she would make for three years. In 1974 she saw service as a cruise ship in the Caribbean during winter and Europe during the summer. In May, 1982 "Britanis" cruised between New York and Bermuda with a smaller capacity of 1,200 passengers.

In winter 1983-1984, "Britanis" sailed from Miami to the Caribbean, then sailed from New York in the summer. A major overhaul in 1986 included parts from her sister "Ellinis" (ex-"Lurline"), some of which went to "Ellinis" from "Homeric" (ex-"Mariposa") when "Homeric" was scrapped in 1974. At this point, parts from three sister ships were now bound together in "Britanis". The refit gave "Britanis" eight years of Caribbean cruising until November 19 1994.

US Government charter

"Britanis" was chartered by the US Government in 1994 as a floating barracks for military personnel at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. She suffered minor damage from an electrical fire, was repaired at US Government expense, then laid up at Tampa, Florida in late 1996.

Final years

Chandris opted to sell "Britanis" as part of a plan to cease cruise line operation. The ship was maintained in anchorage until January 24 1998 when she was sold to AG Belofin Investments of Liechtenstein and renamed "Belofin-1".

Her new owners intended to recoup their investment by selling the ship to scrappers, but a downturn in steel prices held them up for more than a year. On July 3 2000 "Belofin-1" was towed by the Ukrainian tug "Iribis" out of Tampa Bay with the CN Marine ferry "Bluenose" lashed to her port side. The group was bound for ship breakers in India. "Belofin-1" began taking on water and during the voyage but nobody was on board to right the list. The tugboat crew cut her free and "Belofin-1" capsized and sank due to progressive flooding some fifty miles off Cape Town South Africa on 21 October 2000.

References

Further reading

External links

* [http://www.maritimematters.com/matsonliners1.html Matson Lines 1930s brochure]
* [http://www.oceanlinermuseum.co.uk/Monterey%201932.html Ocean Liner Virtual Museum: "S.S. Monterey 1932"]
* [http://www.geocities.com/chandrislines/britanis.html Chandris Lines "Britanis"]