History | |
---|---|
United Kingdom | |
Name |
|
Owner | Canadian Pacific Railway |
Operator |
|
Port of registry | 1922: Liverpool |
Builder | Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Glasgow |
Yard number | 529 |
Launched | 14 December 1920 |
Sponsored by | Lady Raeburn |
Completed | March 1922 |
Commissioned | Into Royal Navy, 4 September 1939 |
Identification |
|
Fate | Sunk 2 December 1940 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Ocean liner |
Tonnage | 16,402 GRT, 9,824 NRT |
Length | 548.7 ft (167.2 m) |
Beam | 70.2 ft (21.4 m) |
Draught | 27 feet 6 inches (8.38 m) |
Depth | 40.3 ft (12.3 m) |
Decks | 2 |
Installed power |
|
Propulsion |
|
Speed | 17 knots (31 km/h) |
Capacity |
|
Complement | 193 men |
Sensors and processing systems |
|
Armament |
|
Notes | Sister ships: Montcalm, Montclare |
HMS Forfar (F30) was a British ocean liner that was commissioned into the Royal Navy as an armed merchant cruiser in 1939 and sunk by enemy action in 1940. She was launched in Scotland in 1920 as a transatlantic liner for the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company as Montrose. She was one of three sister ships. The others were Montcalm, also launched in 1920, and Montclare, launched in 1921.
Canadian Pacific ordered a set of three ships from shipyards on the River Clyde. John Brown & Company in Clydebank built Montcalm and Montclare. [1] [2] The Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in Govan built Montrose as yard number 529. Lady Raeburn, wife of the Director-General of the UK Ministry of Shipping, launched Montrose on 14 December 1920. The ship was completed in March 1922. [3]
Montrose's registered length was 548.7 ft (167.2 m), her beam was 70.2 ft (21.4 m) and her depth was 40.3 ft (12.3 m). [4] She had berths for 542 cabin class and 1,268 third class passengers, [5] and her holds included capacity for 70,560 cubic feet (1,998 m3) of refrigerated cargo. [6] Her tonnages were 16,402 GRT and 9,824 NRT. She had twin screws, each driven by high- and low-pressure steam turbines via single reduction gearing. Between them, her turbines were rated at 2,476 NHP, [4] and gave her a speed of 17 knots (31 km/h).[ citation needed ]
The Canadian Pacific Railway Company owned the ship, but the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company was her operator. CP registered her at Liverpool in England. Her United Kingdom official number was 145919 and her code letters were KLTJ. [4]
On 7 August 1925 Montrose ran aground in the Saint Lawrence River in Canada. [7] She was refloated on 10 August 1925 and dry docked for repairs to her rudder and port-side propeller. [8] [9]
On 31 July 1928 Montrose collided with the British cargo ship Rose Castle in the Saint Lawrence River, Quebec, Canada. Rose Castle beached herself to avoid sinking, [10] and was refloated on 3 August 1928. [11]
Montrose suffered from excessive fuel consumption. To address this, by 1930 by Harland & Wolff in Belfast had replaced her four turbines and double-reduction gearing with a new set of six turbines and single-reduction gearing. [12] This also marginally increased her power output. [13] Also by 1930, she had the call sign GFTK. [14]
The Admiralty requisitioned Montrose on 4 September 1939. Her conversion into an armed merchant cruiser was completed on 6 November 1939. [3] The Royal Navy already had an HMS Montrose, so the converted ship was commissioned as HMS Forfar. She was given the pennant number F30. [15]
On 2 December 1940 Forfar was on the Northern Patrol. She had just left eastbound Convoy HX 90 and was on her way to join westbound Convoy OB 251. At 05:46 hrs she was about 500 nautical miles west of Ireland when the German submarine U-99 torpedoed her. The U-boat hit her with further torpedoes at 06:39, 06:43, 06:50 and 06:57 hours. Forfar sank quickly after the fifth torpedo hit her. [15]
36 officers and 136 men were killed, including her commanding officer, Norman Arthur Cyril Hardy. The Royal Canadian Navy destroyer HMCS St. Laurent, British destroyer HMS Viscount, and British cargo steamship Dunsley rescued 21 survivors and landed them at Oban in Scotland. [15]
RMS Carmania was a Cunard Line transatlantic steam turbine ocean liner. She was launched in 1905 and scrapped in 1932. In World War I she was first an armed merchant cruiser (AMC) and then a troop ship.
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.
SS Minnedosa was one of a pair of transatlantic steam ocean liners that were built in the United Kingdom, launched in 1917 and operated by Canadian Pacific until 1935. Her sister ship was Melita.
SS Adolph Woermann was a German steam ocean liner built in 1922 by Blohm & Voss in Hamburg for the shipping lines Woermann-Linie (WL) and German East Africa Line and named after German merchant, ship owner and politician Adolph Woermann, and the fourth ship of the same name.
SS City of Venice was an intermediate ocean liner that was launched in 1924 in Northern Ireland for Ellerman Lines. In the Second World War she was a troop ship. In 1943 a U-boat sank her in the Mediterranean, killing 22 of the crew and troops aboard.
The Cameron-class steamships were a class of UK cargo twin-screw steamships. They were designed for Clan Line and were also used by Scottish Shire Line and the Royal Navy.
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 Hector was a UK steam turbine passenger and refrigerated cargo liner launched in 1924. She was the fourth of six civilian ships to bear the name.
SS Montrose was a British merchant steamship that was built in 1897 and wrecked in 1914. She was built as a cargo liner for Elder, Dempster & Company. In 1903 the Canadian Pacific Railway bought her and had her converted into a passenger liner.
SS Polar Chief was a merchant steamship that was built in England in 1897 and scrapped in Scotland in 1952. In her 55-year career she had previously been called Montcalm, RFA Crenella, Crenella, Rey Alfonso, Anglo-Norse and Empire Chief. Early in the First World War she spent eight months pretending to be the battleship HMS Audacious.
MV Aorangi was a transpacific ocean liner and refrigerated cargo ship. She was launched in 1924 in Scotland and scrapped in 1953. Her regular route was between Sydney and Vancouver via Auckland, Suva and Honolulu.
SS Hatarana was a cargo steamship that was built as part of an emergency shipbuilding programme during the First World War, and sunk without loss of life in the Battle of the Atlantic during the Second World War. She was built as War Sailor, one of a batch of cargo ships that the United Kingdom ordered from Japanese shipyards. She was renamed Hatarana in 1919 when she changed owners.
HMS Agamemnon was originally the Blue Funnel Line refrigerated cargo ship Agamemnon. She was built in 1929, traded between the UK and the Far East, and was scrapped in 1963. During the Second World War she was converted into an auxiliary minelayer in 1940, and then into an amenities ship in 1943.
HMS Southern Prince was a motor ship that was built in 1929 as the refrigerated cargo ship Southern Prince. She was commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1940 as a minelayer. She became a headquarters ship and then an accommodation ship in 1944, was a fleet training ship in 1945, and returned to civilian trade in 1946. In 1947 she was sold to Italian owners who had her refitted as a passenger ship and renamed her Anna C. From 1952 she was a cruise ship. She was scrapped in 1972.
SS Cathay was a P&O passenger steamship that was built in Scotland in 1925 and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea in 1942. In the Second World War she was first an armed merchant cruiser and then a troop ship. In 1942 she took part in Operation Torch, and was sunk in a German air raid off Bougie, Algeria.
SS Jumna was a steam passenger liner that was built in Scotland in 1929 and sunk with all hands by a German cruiser on Christmas Day 1940. She was a ship in the fleet of James Nourse, Ltd, whose trade included taking indentured labourers from India to the British West Indies.
SS Hartlebury was a cargo steamship that was launched in Scotland in 1934 for J&C Harrison Ltd. A U-boat sank her in the Barents Sea in 1942 when Hartlebury was a member of the Arctic convoy Convoy PQ 17.
SS Algarve was a Danish cargo steamship that was built in 1921 for DFDS. After Germany invaded Denmark in April 1940 Algarve was transferred to the UK Ministry of War Transport. In 1941 an E-boat sank her with all hands in the North Sea.
HMS Salopian was a motor ship that was built in 1926 as the passenger ship Shropshire. She belonged to Bibby Line, which ran passenger and cargo services between Rangoon in Burma and various ports in Great Britain, via the Suez Canal and Gibraltar. The Admiralty requisitioned Shropshire in 1939, had her converted into an armed merchant cruiser (AMC), and renamed her Salopian. A German U-boat sank her in the Battle of the Atlantic in 1941.
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