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. The 1962 Tour de France was the 49th edition of the Tour de France, one of
cycling's Grand Tours. The three-week 4,274-kilometre (2,656 mi) race of 22 stages, including
two split stages, started in Nancy on 24 June and finished at the Parc des Princes in Paris on 15
July.[1]
From 1930 to 1961, the Tour de France was contested by national teams, but in 1962
commercially sponsored international trade teams returned.[2][a] From the late-1950s to 1962, the
Tour had seen the absence of top riders who had bowed to pressure from their teams' extra-
sportif (non-cycling industry) sponsors to ride other races that better suited their brands.[4][5] This,
and a demand for wider advertising from a declining bicycle industry, led to the reintroduction of
the trade team format.[6][7] In early February 1962, 22 teams submitted applications for the race,
[8]
 with the final list of 15 announced at the end of the month. The Spanish-based Kas was the
first choice reserve team.[9]
Each of the 15 teams consisted of 10 cyclists (150 total),[10][11] an increase from the 1961 Tour,
which had 11 teams of 12 cyclists (132 total).[12] Each team was required to have a dominant
nationality; at least six cyclists should have the same nationality, or only two nationalities should
be present.[13][14] For the first time, French cyclists were outnumbered; the largest number of riders
from a nation came from Italy (52), with the next largest coming from France (50) and Belgium
(28). Riders represented a further six nations, all European.[11] Of the start list of 150,[b] 66 were
riding the Tour de France for the first time.[17] The total number of riders that finished the race was
94,[18] a record high to that point.[19] The average age of riders in the race was 27.5 years,
[20]
 ranging from the 21-year-old Tiziano Galvanin (Legnano–Pirelli) to the 40-year-old Pino
Cerami (Peugeot–BP–Dunlop).[21][22] The Legnano–Pirelli cyclists had the youngest average age
while Margnat–Paloma–D'Alessandro cyclists had the oldest.[20] The presentation of the teams –
where the members of each team's roster are introduced in front of the media and local
dignitaries – took place outside the Place de la Carrière in Nancy before the start of the opening
stage held in the city.[23]
Rudi Altig of Saint-Raphaël–Helyett–Hutchinson was the first rider to wear the general
classification's yellow jersey after winning the first stage.[23] Altig lost it the following day to André
Darrigade of Gitane–Leroux–Dunlop–R. Geminiani, who won stage 2a, before regaining it after
winning stage three.[24] The race lead was taken by Altig's teammate Albertus Geldermans after
stage six.[24] He held it for two stages, before Darrigade took it back for the next two.[24] Flandria–
Faema–Clément rider Willy Schroeders then led the race from the end of stage nine to the end of
eleven,[24] at which point Schroeder's teammate Rik Van Looy, a major pre-race favourite,
[25]
 abandoned the race with an injury.[26] The following day, British rider Tom Simpson of Gitane–
Leroux became the first from outside mainland Europe to wear the yellow jersey.[27][28] He lost it
after stage thirteen's individual time trial in the Pyrenees to Flandria's Jef Planckaert, who then
held it for seven stages, which included the Alps.[24] Jacques Anquetil of Saint-Raphaël won the
individual time trial of stage twenty to put himself into the yellow jersey, which he held until the
conclusion of the race;[24] he defended his title, winning his third Tour de France.[29] Planckaert
finished second in the general classification, 4 min and 59 s in arrears, with Mercier–BP–
Hutchinson rider Raymond Poulidor third, over ten minutes behind Anquetil. Altig won the points
classification and Margnat's Federico Bahamontes won the mountains classification.[18] Saint-
Raphaël won the team classification.[30] The overall awards for most combative and unluckiest
were given to Eddy Pauwels of Wiel's–Groene Leeuw and Van Looy respectively.[31][32] Altig
and Philco's Emile Daems won the most stages, with three each.[33]

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 more than fifty thousand 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.

Hamburg America Line[edit]

In March 1900 the Hamburg America Line (German: Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-
Aktien-Gesellschaft or HAPAG) announced the plans for 22 new ships totaling 150,000 gross
register tons (GRT) at a cost of $11 million. One of the two largest ships announced was
SS Kiautschou at an announced 10,200 GRT.[10] The ship was laid down at AG Vulcan
Stettin in Stettin, Germany (present-day Szczecin, Poland).[4] During her construction, HAPAG
renamed the ship twice before finally settling on Kiautschou, the German colony in China, as her
namesake.[11] Built, along with sister ship Hamburg, for HAPAG's entry into the Deutsche
Reichspost's Far East routes, Kiautschou was launched on 14 September 1900, and sailed on
her maiden voyage from Hamburg to the Far East on 22 December 1900.[12]
The ship was 525 feet (160 m) long and featured twin screws powered by two quadruple
expansion steam engines that generated 9,000 horsepower (6,700 kW). The liner also
featured bilge keels that helped stabilize her ride. Kiautschou's first-class staterooms were
described as "light and large" and located in the center of the ship. She had two
large promenade decks, a music room, and a library. Her smoking room was at the rear of the
upper promenade deck, and her large dining room featured a balcony where the ship's orchestra
could serenade diners.[13]
Kiautschou sailed on the Hamburg–Far East route until May 1902. For one round trip that
month, Kiautschou replaced fellow HAPAG steamer Deutschland on Hamburg–New York
service,[14] calling at Southampton and Cherbourg on her eastbound trip,[15] and at Cherbourg
and Plymouth on her westbound return.[16] After this one transatlantic excursion, Kiautschou was
returned to Hamburg–Far East service.[12] On 20 February 1904, in exchange for abandoning the
mail routes shared with North German Lloyd, HAPAG traded Kiautschou for
Lloyd freighters Bamberg, Königsberg, Nürnberg, Stolberg, and Strassburg.[4]