USS Princess Matoika
On 6 April 1917 the United States declared war and immediately seized interned German ships at U.S. and territorial ports, but unlike most other German ships interned by the United States, Princess Alice had not been sabotaged by her German crew before her seizure. Assigned the Identification Number of 2290, she was soon renamed Princess Matoika. Sources disagree about the identity of the ship's namesake, who is often reported as either a member of the Philippine Royal Family, or a Japanese princess. Putnam, however, provides another answer: one of the given names of Pocahontas was Matoaka, which was sometimes spelled Matoika. The newly renamed ship was taken to Olongapo City, 60 miles (97 km) north of Manila and placed in the drydock Dewey at Subic Bay where temporary repairs were made. She then made her way to San Francisco, and eventually to the east coast. Princess Matoika was the last ex-German ship to be commissioned.
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