S.S. Lurline

In 1932, the last of four smart American fabricated liners designed by William Francis Gibbs and constructed for the Matson Lines' Pacific services was launched: SS Lurline christened on 12 July 1932 in Quincy, Massachusetts, by Lurline Matson Roth (who had also christened her father's 1908 steamer Lurline as a youthful female of 18). On 12 January 1933, SS Lurline left New York City bound for San Francisco via the Panama Canal on her maiden voyage, thence to Sydney and the South Seas, returning to San Francisco on 24 April 1933. She spent the war providing uniform services, often travel to Australia, and once transported Australian Prime Minister John Curtin to America to confer with President Roosevelt. Her high occupation rates during the early 1950s caused Matson to also refit her sister liner Monterey (renaming her SS Matsonia) and the two liners provided a first class-only service between Hawaii and the American continent from June 1957 to September 1962, mingled with the occasional Pacific voyage.