After the Second World War began in September 1939, Statendam's westbound Atlantic crossings carried thousands of US and European refugees.

Until the First World War, transatlantic passenger shipping companies had carried large numbers of emigrants to the USA, mostly in Third Class or steerage accommodation.

[2] On 13 April the L Smit & Co tugs Poolzee, Oostzee, Roode Zee, and Seine towed Statendam out of Belfast.

Statendam took over as NASM's flagship, and was also the largest ship in the Dutch merchant fleet[9] until the second Nieuw Amsterdam was completed in 1938.

[10] NASM's President, Ripperda Wierdsma, stated "We do not wish to compete for the Blue Riband of the Atlantic, but we do intend to excel in comfort, cleansiness and cuisine".

[15] On 22 April, a team of NYPD police motorcycles escorted Statendam's officers, and NASM personnel including the Rypperda Wierdsma, to New York City Hall to be received by Mayor Jimmy Walker.

Speakers included the Dutch Ambassador JH van Royen, aircraft maker Anthony Fokker, New York police chief Grover Whalen, and retired justice George Landon Ingraham.

[17] On 1 January 1930, while being warped at Havana, she struck the Cunard Liner RMS Franconia, crushing the port end of the latter's flying bridge, and breaking off several feet of her rail.

A heavy sea pushed her against the starboard side of the Italian liner Conte Grande, damaging several plates of the latter's hull.

Destinations included the Virgin Islands, Martinique, Barbados and Trinidad, a steamboat excursion up the Orinoco to Ciudad Bolívar,[21] and a visit to Nassau, Bahamas.

[27] The first was for 16 days, left New York on 19 December, and included calls at Nassau, Port-au-Prince, Colón, Panama, Kingston, Jamaica and Havana.

Her passengers included the geophysicist Dr Vening Meinesz, who had recently completed the "Navy-Princeton gravity expedition to the West Indies" in the submarine USS S-48.

A cabin aboard Statendam was fitted out with a gravimeter, for Dr Meinesz to take gravity measurements during his voyage to Rotterdam.

[29] On 19 May 1932 the tennis star Helen Wills Moody left Hoboken on Statendam on her way to play in the 1932 Wimbledon Championships.

[30] On 12 August, a Czechoslovak ballet company led by the Russian-born Yelizaveta Nikolská, accompanied by Statendam's orchestra, danced on the sun deck as the ship entered New York harbor.

In October 1935, Norddeutscher Lloyd cancelled Columbus' winter cruise to the Mediterranean and replaced it with one to South America.

Hamburg America Line revised Reliance's round the World cruise to go via South Africa instead of the Mediterranean.

By the end of October, NASM had 110 passengers booked to go on Statendam to the Mediterranean, but on 2 November the company followed its competitors by cancelling the cruise.

[41] On 19 December 1937 Statendam was leaving New York to start a Caribbean cruise when she and the Matson Line refrigerated cargo ship Golden Cloud were involved in a collision.

Statendam had left port in good visibility, but just beyond the Ambrose Lightship she ran into fog, and reduced speed to 11 knots (20 km/h).

The Munich Agreement signed on 30 September temporarily averted a major European war, but by then large amounts of gold were already in transit to North America.

United States Lines' President Roosevelt brought $51 million, which was the largest amount ever carried by a single ship.

She delayed her departure from midnight that night to 10:00 hrs the next morning, to await another 200 US citizens coming from Paris by train.

[45] On 8 September U-48 stopped and sank the British cargo ship Winkleigh in the Western Approaches southwest of Ireland.

[8][46] On 22 October, Statendam left Rotterdam carrying nearly 1,350 passengers, including US, Polish, Hungarian and Jewish refugees.

Among her passengers from Rotterdam was the French conductor Pierre Monteux, en route for his fifth season conducting the San Francisco Symphony.

Also among her passengers were former Prime Minister of Canada R. B. Bennett, former Director-General of the BBC Sir John Reith, and the dancer Tilly Losch, Countess of Carnarvon.

[50] On 9 December, Statendam left Hoboken for Rotterdam carrying only 110 passengers, including 50 Germans returning home.

Also among her passengers was NASM managing director Frans Bouman, who said that because of the war, it was difficult to say what the company's future transatlantic service would be.

[53] However, NASM delayed her departure from Rotterdam, and on 4 January 1940 it announced that she would be laid up there, because of both the risk of being sunk and the consequent high cost of marine insurance.