SS President Coolidge continued from Manila via Singapore, the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean Sea, New York City, the Panama Canal and thence back to San Francisco. "President Hoover" and "President Coolidge" were aimed at holiday makers seeking sun in the Pacific and Far East. Passenger luxuries included spacious staterooms and lounges, private telephones, two saltwater swimming pools, a barbers' shop, beauty salon, gymnasium and soda fountain. "President Coolidge" broke several speed records on her crossings between Japan and San Francisco. In December 1937 "President Hoover" ran aground on the Taiwanese coast and was declared a total loss. Dollar Steamship Lines was increasingly in
SS President Coolidge and two Navy doctors from the Philippines that were already among passengers being evacuated from the war zone that had now reached Hawaii. The ship reached San Francisco on 25 December. On 12 January 1942 the first large convoy, including the large former ocean liners "President Coolidge" and , to Australia after Pearl Harbor departed the United States carrying troops, supplies, ammunition and weapons, including P-40 fighters intended for the Philippines and Java with fifty of the planes carried by "President Coolidge" and "Mariposa". Arriving Melbourne on 1 February in "President Coolidge", along with supplies and munitions not intended for