RFA Broomdale (A168) was a Dale-class fleet tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. She spent much of her career in the Indian Ocean and Far East.
The Taiyō-class escort carrier was a group of three escort carriers used by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II. Two of the ships were built as cargo liners in the late 1930s and subsequently taken over by the IJN and converted into escort carriers, while the third ship was converted while still under construction. The first ship converted, Taiyō, ferried aircraft and supplies to Japanese possessions before the start of the Pacific War in December 1941 and also served as a training ship between transport missions. Once the war began she did much the same for the newly conquered areas. Her sister ship, Un'yō did much the same in 1942. Chuyō, the last of the three to be converted, only ferried aircraft between Japan and the naval base at Truk before she was sunk by an American submarine in December 1943. Her sisters sometimes had other destinations other than Truk in 1943, but it was also their primary destination until they were damaged by American submarines in late 1943 or early 1944. After finishing their repairs in 1944, the sisters combined convoy escort duties with their transport missions and often ventured as far south as Singapore. Taiyō was the first of the pair to be sunk, torpedoed by an American submarine in August, with Un'yō following her sister a month later.
The Japanese aircraft carrier Taiyō was the lead ship of her class of three escort carriers. She was originally built as Kasuga Maru (春日丸), the last of three Nitta Maru class of passenger-cargo liners built in Japan during the late 1930s for NYK Line. The ship was requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) in early 1941 and was converted into an escort carrier. Taiyō was initially used to transport aircraft to distant air bases and for training, but was later used to escort convoys of merchant ships between Japan and Singapore. The ship was torpedoed twice by American submarines with negligible to moderate damage before she was sunk in mid-1944 with heavy loss of life.
Chūyō was a Taiyō-class escort carrier originally built as Nitta Maru, the first of her class of three passenger-cargo liners built in Japan during the late 1930s. She was requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) in late 1941 and was converted into an escort carrier in 1942. She spent most of her service ferrying aircraft, cargo and passengers to Truk until she was torpedoed and sunk by an American submarine in late 1943 with heavy loss of life.
SS Potsdam was a steam ocean liner that was launched in Germany in 1899 for Holland America Line. In 1915 Swedish American Line acquired her and renamed her Stockholm.
USS Zeelandia was an ocean liner that was built in Scotland in 1910 and scrapped in the Netherlands in 1936. She was the largest ship in the Koninklijke Hollandsche Lloyd (KHL) fleet from 1910 until the liners Gelria and Tubantia were completed in 1913 and 1914. She was USS Zeelandia from April 1918 until October 1919, when she was a United States Navy troopship.
Ural was an auxiliary cruiser of the Imperial Russian Navy during the Russo-Japanese War. She was originally a Rivers-class ocean liner for Norddeutscher Lloyd, launched in 1890 under the name Spree. She was renamed Kaiserin Maria Theresia in 1899, before being sold to the Russians in 1904.
SS Binnendijk was a Holland America Line (NASM) cargo steamship. She was one of NASM's "B" class ships: the company's first cargo ships to be powered by steam turbines. Binnendijk was built in South Holland in 1921, and sunk by a mine in the English Channel in 1939. She was the first ship that NASM lost in the Second World War. Her wreck off the coast of Dorset, England is now a wreck diving site, nicknamed "The Benny".
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 Menestheus was originally the Blue Funnel Line refrigerated cargo ship Menestheus. She was built in 1929, and traded between the UK and the Far East. She was an auxiliary minelayer from 1940 to 1943. When the Second World War in 1945, she was undergoing conversion into an amenities ship. She was scrapped in 1953 after being gutted by fire.
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.
HMS Teviot Bank was a Bank Line steamship that was built in England in 1938 as the cargo ship Teviotbank. In the Second World War she was a Royal Navy auxiliary minelayer. By 1956 a Panamanian company had bought her and renamed her Nella. She was scrapped in Italy in 1971.
MS Gruziya was one of six Soviet Krim-class ocean liners during the late 1920s built for the Black Sea State Shipping Company. During the Second World War, she participated in the Siege of Odessa in 1941 and the Siege of Sevastopol in 1942. The ship was sunk by a German bomber en route to the latter port in June; there were no survivors.
Stremitelny was one of 29 Gnevny-class destroyer built for the Soviet Navy during the late 1930s. Completed in 1938, the ship was assigned to the Baltic Fleet and played a minor role in the 1939–1940 Winter War against Finland. Stremitelny was transferred to the Northern Fleet in mid-1940. After the start of the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, she covered an amphibious landing along the Arctic coast. The ship was attacked and sunk by German dive bombers the following month in Polyarny with the loss of 111 crew and passengers. Her wreck was partially salvaged the following year.
Jagiełło was a medium-sized passenger-cargo ship, sailing under the Polish flag between 1948 and 1949, and then decommissioned due to unprofitable and post-war political conditions, which were not conducive to the development of the Polish passenger fleet, and then transferred to the Soviet Union as Pyotr Velikiy, operating Black Sea passenger services until 1973. The ship had been built by Blohm & Voss for Turkish operators, taken over after completion by the German government. After World War 2 it taken over by the British and then the Soviet Government.
SS Reina Victoria-Eugenia was a steam ocean liner and mail ship launched in 1912 in England and operated by the Compañía Transatlántica Española (CTE). She and her sister ship Infanta Isabel de Borbon represented a significant modernisation of CTE's fleet of ageing and obsolescent ships.
The Krim-class ocean liners consisted of six ships built during the late 1920s for service in the Black Sea. The first two ships were built in Germany, but the rest were built in the Soviet Union. Four ships were sunk during the Second World War, but the others survived the war.
MS Abkhazia was one of six Soviet Krim-class cargo liners during the late 1920s built for the Black Sea State Shipping Company. During the Second World War, she participated in the Siege of Odessa in 1941 and the Siege of Sevastopol in 1942. She was sunk by German aircraft in the port in June.
MS Adzharistan was one of six Soviet Krim-class cargo liners built for the Black Sea State Shipping Company during the late 1920s. The first pair were built in Weimar Germany, but the other four, including Adzharistan, were built in the Soviet Union and varied slightly from the German-built ships. A month after the invasion of the Soviet Union by the Axis powers in June 1941, she was sunk by German aircraft.
MS Ukraina was one of six Soviet Krim-class ocean liners during the late 1920s built for the Black Sea State Shipping Company. During the Second World War, she participated in the Siege of Odessa in 1941 and the Siege of Sevastopol in 1942. She was sunk by German aircraft in July.
