SS Tasman was a 4,922 gross register tons (GRT) Dutch steamship built by Earle's Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Limited, Hull in 1921 for Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij (KPM), Batavia.

[4] With outbreak of the World War II in the Pacific and the fall of the Dutch East Indies, Tasman was one of 21 KPM vessels that sought refuge in Australia.

These ships became the core of the initial Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA) command's permanent local fleet under U.S. Army control.

On 26 March 1942 the Chief Quartermaster, USAFIA arranged interim charters pending final negotiations with the Netherlands Government in London.

Final negotiations between the War Shipping Administration (WSA) and the Dutch government resulted in their being placed under U.S. Army control through a complex charter arrangement in which the British Ministry War Transport (BMWT) chartered the KPM vessels and with WSA allocated them to SWPA with the stipulation they be under total control of the U.S.

[2] The conversion, with plans provided by Army engineers, was done during four months at Melbourne[5] She was equipped to carry 250 patients and continued to be crewed by Dutch officers and Javanese (Indonesian) sailors.

In June 1945 Tasman entered Sydney for refit before being released from SWPA charter and returned to BMWT control in July.