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SS Mariposa

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For other ships of the same name, see Mariposa.

SS Mariposa
Builder:	Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation at Fore River Shipyard
Launched:	1931
Entered service:	1932 as Mariposa 1942 as USAT Mariposa 1953 as Homeric
Operators:	Matson Lines Home Lines
Tonnage:	18,017 gross register
Length:	192 meters / 632 feet
Width:	24 meters / 79 feet
Propulsion:	2 × Bethlehem geared steam turbines
Power:	28,450 SHP
Speed:	22.84 knots top speed
Passenger capacity:	704 (475 First class, 229 cabin class)
Crew:	359
Status:	scrapped 1974

The SS Mariposa was a luxury ocean liner launched in 1931; one of four ships in the Matson Lines "White Fleet" which included SS Monterey, SS Malolo and SS Lurline.

1 Career with Matson Lines
2 War service
- 2.1 War voyages
3 Career with Home Lines
4 See also
5 References
6 External Links

Career with Matson Lines

SS Mariposa was designed for service in the Pacific Ocean including regular stops in ports along the West Coast of the United States, Hawaii, Samoa, Fiji, New Zealand and Australia. Her maiden voyage began January 16 1932 in New York City where she sailed to Havana, transited the Panama Canal and berthed in the Port of Los Angeles before continuing on to tour ten more countries in the south and west Pacific.

War service

In World War II she served the United States as a fast troop carrier, bringing supplies and support forces to distant shores as well as rescuing persons stranded in foreign countries by the outbreak of war.

War voyages

January 12 1942 left San Francisco for Australia with a freighter and the USS Phoenix^[1]
February 2 1942 arrived for a brief stop in Melbourne then on to Perth^[2]
March 19 1942 left San Francisco for Australia in a convoy that included RMS Queen Elizabeth
28 May 1942 left Charleston, South Carolina stopping in Freetown for a week and Cape Town for a short stay before heading for Karachi^[3]
24 July 1942 arrived Karachi
December 21 1942 left Newport News, Virginia unescorted carrying 5,000 military passengers^[4]
January 3 1943: Overnight refueling at Rio de Janeiro
January 26 1943: Aden for overnight refueling
January 27 1943 disembarked outside Massawa
April 15 1943 left Brooklyn Navy Yard for Casablanca carrying military medical units and troops including some Tuskegee Airmen
April 24 1943 arrived Casablanca, French Morocco
late 1943 Los Angeles to Hobart, Tasmania with near-mutinous passengers due to bad food^[5]
December 26 1943 docked Hobart
early 1944 docked Bombay
March 9 1944 departed Los Angeles
April 8 1944 arrived Bombay^[6]
April 13 1944 left Bombay for Boston^[7]
May 23 1944 arrived Boston, MA
Spring 1944 New York to North Africa^[8]
August 8 1944 left Boston for Liverpool; sailed alone^[9]
August 14 1944 arrived Liverpool
August 30 1944 left Boston for Liverpool; sailed alone
September 7 1944 arrived Liverpool
December 1 1944 left Boston for Marseilles; sailed alone
December 10 1944 arrived Marseilles
January 8 1945 left Boston for Marseilles
January 18 1945 arrived Marseilles
May 7 1945 en route to the US on VE Day
October 17 1945 left Le Havre for Boston bringing troops home
October 24 1945 arrived Boston

Career with Home Lines

For other ships of the same name, see Homeric.

In 1947 the ship was mothballed for six years at Bethlehem-Alameda Shipyard in Alameda, California. Her engines were overhauled by Todd San Francisco Division. Home Lines bought her and renamed her SS Homeric, sailing her to Trieste for reconstruction to allow 1243 passengers: 147 First Class and 1,096 tourist class. Gross tonnage increased to 18,563. Total length increased to 641 feet (195.5 meters). Home Lines operated her beginning January 24 1955 for liner service between ports in the north Atlantic. In 1964 she replaced the SS Italia to steam on the regular run between New York and Nassau, Bahamas, though she in turn was shortly replaced by SS Oceanic. SS Homeric was reassigned to intra-Caribbean cruises. In 1973, a major fire destroyed much of her galley and restaurant and she was scrapped in Taiwan in 1974.^[10] During the ship breaking process, her sister ship Ellinis (ex-Lurline) suffered major engine damage on a cruise to Japan; Chandris Lines was able to purchase one of the Mariposa engines from the ship breakers.