Ambrose had one screw. The North Eastern Marine Engineering Company built her three-cylinder triple-expansion steam engine.[2] The engine was variously rated as 775 nhp,[5] 800 nhp[3] or 6,350ihp (4,740kW). It gave her a speed of 14.5 knots (27km/h).[4]
Booth's operated scheduled cargo liner and passenger services between Europe and Brazil. In the first decade of the 20th century these services included regular sailings between Liverpool and Manaus, 1,000 miles (1,600km) up the Amazon River. A Booth passenger ship would leave Liverpool for Manaus on or about the 10th, 20th and 30th day of each month.[6]Ambrose's maiden voyage from Liverpool to Manaus began on either 20 September[7] or 7 October 1903.[1]
In 1906 Ambrose ran aground in Brazil. She had sailed from Liverpool on 30 August, called at Leixões in Portugal, and on 26 September reached Manaus. At 1000 hrs on 3 October she left Manaus on her return journey. At 1515 hrs she reached Para na' Trinidade, some miles downriver on the Amazon, where she ran aground and suffered damage. Ambrose remained at Para na' Trinidade for a week, and reached Liverpool on 27 October.[7]
Booth Line took Ambrose's need for repair as an opportunity to increase her passenger capacity. On 28 October she left Liverpool for Hebburn on the River Tyne, where R&W Hawthorn, Leslie and Company repaired her hull, lengthened her poop deck and added berths for another 150 passengers.[7] The alterations increased Ambrose's tonnages to 4,588GRT and 2,490NRT.[8] Work was completed on 30 March 1907 and cost £17,000.[7]
On 11 March off the west coast of Scotland a submarine attacked Ambrose three times. The first attack was at 1320 hrs, when a torpedo missed her bow by 20 yards (18m). The second attack was at 1405 hrs, when a torpedo passed astern of her. The third attack was at 1422 hrs. On each occasion Ambrose opened fire on the periscope. After the third encounter the attacks ceased, and Ambrose's officers suspected that she had sunk the submarine.[10]
On 6 May submarines attacked Ambrose off Skerryvore.[10]
Ambrose's patrols with the 10th Cruiser Squadron ended in September 1915, when she reached port in Glasgow. On 13 October she transferred to Greenock and on 20 October her crew was paid off.[10] Also on 20 October, the Admiralty bought Ambrose from Booth Line.[12]
Submarine depot ship
In 1917 Ambrose was converted into a submarine depot ship.[14] In this rôle her complement was 238 officers and enlisted men.[4] She was stationed at Berehaven, Ireland in January 1918 and transferred to Falmouth, Cornwall in November. In 1919 she was stationed at Devonport. From 19 September 1918 until 30 October 1920 her commander was CommanderCecil Talbot.
Ambrose spent long periods at the Royal Navy bases in Hong Kong and Weihaiwei. She also visited Kobe and Shanghai in 1920, Nagasaki and Kobe in 1921 and Singapore in 1923.[10]
In 1928 Ambrose and six L-class submarines were recalled to Britain. On this trip the six submarines were HMS L1, L2, L4, L5, L7 and L8. They left Hong Kong on 28 March, reached Singapore on 3 April[21] and left Singapore on 8 April.[22] On 4 December Ambrose was paid off into the Maintenance Reserve at Rosyth.[14]
Final years
On 1 June 1938 Ambrose was renamed HMS Cochrane.[12] Some sources say that she was converted into a destroyer depot ship.[1][2] Another source describes her Second World War rôle as a "base ship".[2] In 1940, her Bomb Disposal Officer was responsible for the defusing and removal of a German shell that hit HMS Prince of Wales but did not explode during her fight with the battleship Bismarck in 1940.
SS Ceramic was an ocean liner built in Belfast for White Star Line in 1912–13 and operated on the Liverpool – Australia route. Ceramic was the largest ship serving the route until P&O introduced RMS Mooltan in 1923.
RMS Alcantara was an ocean liner which entered service just weeks before the start of World War I, was converted to an armed merchant cruiser in 1915, and was sunk in combat with the German armed merchant cruiser SMS Greif in the Action of 29 February 1916.
HMS Montclare (F85) was a British ocean liner that was commissioned into the Royal Navy as an armed merchant cruiser in 1939, converted into a destroyer depot ship in 1944 and a submarine depot ship in 1946. She was decommissioned in 1954 and scrapped in 1958.
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HMS L7 was a L-class submarine built for the Royal Navy during World War I. The boat survived the war and was sold for scrap in 1930.
SS Calgarian was an Allan Line steam turbine ocean liner that was built in 1914 and converted into a Royal Navy armed merchant cruiser. Until 1916 she served with the 9th Cruiser Squadron, patrolling off West Africa and then off the east coast of the United States. She spent the remainder of her career making transatlantic crossings between Canada and Britain.
The second SS Laurentic was a 18,724 GRT steam ocean liner built in 1927 by Harland and Wolff, Belfast, for White Star Line. She was the last steamship to be built for White Star Line.
SS Patroclus was a UK steam turbine passenger and refrigerated cargo liner launched in 1923. She was the third of five ships to bear the name.
HMS Hilary was a Booth Line passenger steamship that was built in Scotland in 1908 and operated scheduled services between Liverpool and Brazil until 1914. In the First World War she was an armed merchant cruiser (AMC) until a u-boat sank her in the Atlantic Ocean in 1917.
Two ships and a shore establishment of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Cochrane, after Admiral Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald:
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HMHS Lanfranc was a Booth Line passenger steamship that was built in Scotland in 1907 and operated scheduled services between Liverpool and Brazil until 1914. In the First World War she was a hospital ship until a U-boat sank her in the English Channel in 1917.
Two ships and a shore establishment of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Ambrose, after Saint Ambrose:
SS Almeda Star, originally SS Almeda, was a British turbine steamer of the Blue Star Line. She was both an ocean liner and a refrigerated cargo ship, providing a passenger service between London and South America and carrying refrigerated beef from South America to London. She was built in 1926, significantly enlarged in 1935 and sunk by enemy action in 1941.
HMS Cyclops (F31) was a submarine repair and depot ship of the Royal Navy. She was originally the passenger liner Indrabarah sister ship to Indralema, built by Laing, for the Indra Line Ltd then bought by The Admiralty, while she was building. She was launched on 27 October 1905.
HMS Titania was a Royal Navy submarine depot ship. Most of those that saw service in the First World War were scrapped in the 1930s. Titania, however, saw service in the Second World War. She was scrapped at Faslane, Scotland, in September 1949.
HMS Dunvegan Castle was a UK ocean liner that was converted into an armed merchant cruiser (AMC) in the Second World War. Harland and Wolff built her and her sister ship Dunnottar Castle in Belfast in 1936.
RMS Orama was a UK steam ocean liner and Royal Mail Ship. She was launched in 1911 for the Orient Steam Navigation Company. When new, she was the largest liner sailing between Great Britain and Australia.
↑ Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen (1904). Mercantile Navy List. Board of Trade. p.19. Retrieved 19 February 2021– via Crew List Index Project.
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