The P&O (Peninsular & Occidental) Steamship Company owned and operated the SS Florida throughout her 37-year career, except for 4 years during World War II. Originally the SS Florida connected Tampa, Key West and Havana. In 1934 service was transferred to a Miami-Havana route; in 1954 a weekly Miami-Nassau roundtrip was tried briefly to compete with Eastern Steamship Line, but the Florida reverted to three weekly Miami-Havana round-trip sailings.
