USS Manchuria

USS Manchuria (ID-1633) underway in 1919
History
Name:	SS Manchuria
Namesake:	Manchuria
Owner:	1902: Pacific Mail Steamship Co. 1915: International Mercantile Marine Co.
Operator:	1902: Pacific Mail Steamship Co. 1915: Atlantic Transport Line
Laid down:	3 September 1902
Launched:	2 November 1903
Sponsored by:	Miss Laura Wick
Fate:	Expropriated by U.S. Navy, 1918
United States
Name:	USS Manchuria (ID-1633)
Acquired:	10 April 1918
Commissioned:	25 April 1918
Decommissioned:	11 September 1919
Fate:	returned to IMM
Name:	1919: SS Manchuria 1928: SS President Johnson 1948: SS Santa Cruz
Namesake:	1928: President Andrew Johnson
Owner:	1919: International Mercantile Marine Co. 1928: Dollar Steamship Lines 1938: United States Maritime Commission 1948: Tagus Navigational Co.
Operator:	1919: Atlantic Transport Line 1923: Panama Pacific Line 1928: Dollar Steamship Lines 1938: American President Lines (through WSA) 1948: Societa Saicen
Route:	1919: New York–Hamburg 1923: New York–Panama Canal–San Francisco 1928: round-the-world service 1931: (Laid up)
Fate:	Scrapped 1952
General characteristics
Tonnage:	13,639 GRT (1904 design) to 16,111 GRT Lloyd's Register 1945—46
Displacement:	27,000 tons
Length:	615 ft 8 in (187.66 m)
Beam:	65 ft (19.8 m)
Draft:	33 ft 6 in (10.21 m) (load mean)
Speed:	16 knots (18 mph; 30 km/h)
Armament:	1 × 6-inch (150 mm) gun 2 × 4-inch (100 mm) guns 1 × 1-pounder guns 2 × machine guns

SS Manchuria was a passenger and cargo liner launched 1903 for the San Francisco-trans Pacific service of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. During World War I the ship was commissioned 25 April 1918—11 September 1919 for United States Navy service as USS Manchuria (ID-1633). After return to civilian service the ship was acquired by the Dollar Steamship Line in 1928 until that line suffered financial difficulties in 1938 and ownership of Manchuria was taken over by the United States Maritime Commission which chartered the ship to American President Lines which operated her as SS President Johnson. During World War II she operated as a War Shipping Administration transport with American President Lines its agent allocated to United States Army requirements. After World War II, she was returned to American President Lines, sold and renamed SS Santa Cruz. The liner was scrapped in Italy in 1952.

Manchuria was laid down by the New York Shipbuilding Company of Camden, New Jersey, for the Pacific Mail Steamship Company on 3 September 1902, among the first ships built at the yard as contract number six. An attempt to launch the ship on 31 October 1903 failed when the ship stuck on the ways. The ship was successfully launched on 2 November having been sponsored by Miss Laura Wick.

The design of Manchuria was identical to Mongolia which was delivered as Manchuria was being fitted out. Both were among the largest ships being built in the United States as had been the line's previous trans Pacific liners Korea and Siberia of 1902 and both were given the American Bureau of Shipping rating and Lloyd's Register classification of 100-A1. At the time of construction the two vessels were the largest passenger ships built in the United States and were built for 346 first class, 66 second class and 1,300 steerage passengers.