Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson of Wallsend, built Dominion Monarch as yard number 1547 for Shaw, Savill & Albion Line.

Onboard electricity was supplied by five six-cylinder 900 bhp Allen diesel engines, each powering a 600 kW 220 volt generator.

[5] Facilities there had been upgraded in preparation for her, with eight new three-ton capacity electric cranes having been installed on the north quay of the King George V Dock.

She then called at Tenerife in the Canary Islands for bunkers, Cape Town and Durban in South Africa; and Fremantle, Melbourne, and Sydney in Australia.

[15] After her maiden voyage, Dominion Monarch switched from Tenerife to Las Palmas for her regular refueling stop in the Canary Islands.

With the break bulk cargo handling techniques of her era the ship was able to make three round trips a year, spending almost as much time unloading and loading in Britain and New Zealand as voyaging at sea.

On 7 October she left for Britain, calling at Sydney, Melbourne, Fremantle, Durban, Cape Town in South Africa and Freetown in Sierra Leone before reaching The Downs in the North Sea off Kent on 28 November.

[5] Dominion Monarch was laid up for six weeks in Tilbury but then resumed her route, sailing on 9 January 1940 via Cape Town, Fremantle and Melbourne to Sydney, where she arrived on 12 February.

[5] Damage seems to have been slight, as she continued via Cape Town to Australia, calling at Fremantle, Adelaide and Melbourne before reaching Sydney on 6 June.

[16] On her return voyage Dominion Monarch embarked 100 Australian soldiers in Sydney and brought them via Melbourne, Cape Town and Freetown to Liverpool in England, where she arrived on 29 July.

TC 12B left Halifax on 26 August for the Firth of Clyde, and Dominion Monarch continued to Liverpool where she arrived on 1 September.

WS 12 reached Freetown on 14 October,[22] where Dominion Monarch left five days later for Cape Town and the Indian Ocean.

[24] At Singapore Shaw, Savill and Albion had Dominion Monarch drydocked and her engines stripped down for overhaul,[25] but on 7 December Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and the next day it invaded Hong Kong and Malaya.

On 11 February she and the Royal Mail Lines 22,209 GRT troop ship Alcantara left with three destroyers as Convoy NA 3 to the Firth of Clyde.

[26] On 22 March 1942 Dominion Monarch left Liverpool for Orsay, Inner Hebrides, where she became part of Convoy WS 17 to South Africa.

[28] A week later Dominion Monarch left Bombay for New Zealand, calling at Fremantle and Sydney, reaching Auckland on 16 November and then spending 12 days in port.

This time instead of sailing via Halifax to join an eastbound convoy she crossed the Atlantic unescorted, reaching Liverpool on 28 December.

[16] The ship spent New Year 1943 in Liverpool, and after three weeks in port sailed to the Firth of Clyde to start another voyage to the Indian Ocean.

It left the Clyde on 24 January and reached Freetown on 6 February, whence Dominion Monarch continued via Durban to the Indian Ocean.

[32] By then the Allies had won the North African Campaign and invaded Sicily, and had resumed normal convoys between Egypt and Britain through the Mediterranean.

The ship joined Convoy MKF 22, which was on its way from Port Said to the Firth of Clyde, and Dominion Monarch reached Liverpool on 9 September.

Her schedule was interrupted once, in 1944, when the Captain-class frigates HMS Burges and Inman escorted her on a mission from the Clyde to Iceland and back.

[39][40] Dominion Monarch next took German prisoners of war to Australia, reaching Darling Harbour in Sydney, NSW on 17 June 1945.

[41] Dominion Monarch was not released from UK Government service until 21 July 1947, when she was paid off at King George V Dock, London.

[43] Following a tour of South Africa, the All Blacks rugby union team departed from Durban on 23 September 1949 for their return home.

[5] The South African cricket team arrived at Perth, Australia on Dominion Monarch on 14 October 1953 for a tour series.

[45] In 1955 the 20,204 GRT Southern Cross was completed and joined the Shaw Savill fleet, displacing Dominion Monarch as flagship.

[46] From June to November 1962 Mitsui leased Dominion Monarch as a floating hotel and entertainment centre for Seattle's Century 21 Exposition, along with the Mexican-owned Acapulco and Canadian-owned Catala.

[51] The second was issued by Australia in 2004 as part of the "Bon Voyage" series on the 50c stamp and shows a Shaw, Savill and Albion Line poster depicting the ship.

The photo depicts the vessel moored at London's King George V Dock, towering over homes on Saville Street.