RMS Kenilworth Castle in 1911. | |
History | |
---|---|
Name | Kenilworth Castle |
Namesake | Kenilworth Castle |
Owner | Union-Castle Line |
Port of registry | London, United Kingdom |
Builder | Harland & Wolff |
Yard number | 356 |
Launched | 15 December 1903 |
Completed | 19 May 1904 |
Acquired | 19 May 1904 |
In service | 19 May 1904 |
Out of service | May 1936 |
Identification | Official number: 118433 |
Fate | Scrapped in 1937 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Passenger ship |
Tonnage | 12,975 GRT |
Length | 173.78 metres (570 ft 2 in) |
Beam | 19.71 metres (64 ft 8 in) |
Installed power | 2 x 4 Cyl steam engines |
Propulsion | Two screws |
Sail plan | Southampton - Cape Town |
Speed | 17.5 knots |
RMS Kenilworth Castle was a British Passenger ship that served for the Union-Castle Line until its scrapping in 1937. It also served as a troop transport during the First World War. [1] This was also the last ship Titanic-lookout Reginald Lee served on before his death in 1913. [2]
Kenilworth Castle was built at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast, United Kingdom and launched on 15 December 1903 before being completed on 19 May 1904. The ship was 173.78 metres (570 ft 2 in) long and had a beam of 19.71 metres (64 ft 8 in). It was assessed at 12,975 GRT and had 2 x 4 Cyl steam engines driving two screw propellers. The ship could reach a speed of 17.5 knots. It had a sistership named Armandale Castle and were the first mail steamers ordered by the newly merged Union-Castle Line. [3]
Kenilworth Castle mainly served on the Union-Castle line's mail service between Southampton, United Kingdom and Cape Town, South Africa. At the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Kenilworth Castle was requisitioned by the Admiralty as a troopship and took part in the famous six ship Union-Castle convoy which brought 4000 troops to mainland Europe that same year. [4]
Kenilworth Castle was sailing in the English Channel in convoy at 12.30 am on 4 June 1918 with all its lights out, when it collided with the stern of the destroyer HMS Rival off Eddystone Lighthouse after it herself tried to avoid a collision with another vessel in the convoy who had changed its course. A number of live depth charges which were stored on the destroyer's stern went overboard and exploded underneath Kenilworth Castle its stern. The ship was badly damaged but remained afloat and reached nearby Plymouth by 8 am. The accident also killed 15 crew of the Kenilworth Castle after the two lifeboats they were in got swamped while they were trying to evacuate in the misunderstanding that the ship had been torpedoed. The ship was subsequently repaired from June 1918 to July 1919, by which time it was returned to commercial service, retaking her old route. [4]
In 1919 the ship was quarantined at Table Bay for three weeks due to an influenza epidemic which was raging throughout South Africa. The ship was refitted between April and June 1928 and its second class accommodations were removed in 1934. [4]
The Kenilworth Castle was withdrawn from service in May 1936 and ultimately scrapped at Newport, Wales, United Kingdom in 1937. [4]
USS Paulding (DD-22) was the lead ship of Paulding-class destroyers in the United States Navy. She was named for Rear Admiral Hiram A. Paulding (1797-1878). She was in commission from 1910 to 1919 and saw service in World War I.
The Wickes-class destroyers were a class of 111 destroyers built by the United States Navy in 1917–19. Along with the 6 preceding Caldwell-class and 156 subsequent Clemson-class destroyers, they formed the "flush-deck" or "four-stack" type. Only a few were completed in time to serve in World War I, including USS Wickes, the lead ship of the class.
USS Robinson (DD-88) was a Wickes-class destroyer in the United States Navy, later transferred to the Royal Navy, as HMS Newmarket (G47). She was the first ship named for Isaiah Robinson.
USS Fairfax (DD-93) was a Wickes-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War I, later transferred for World War II service first to the Royal Navy as HMS Richmond (G88), a Town-class destroyer, and then to the Soviet Navy as Zhivuchy.
HMS Zubian was a First World War Royal Navy Tribal-class destroyer constructed from the forward end of HMS Zulu and the rear and mid sections of HMS Nubian. These two destroyers had been badly damaged in late 1916, and rather than scrapping both hulls at the height of World War I, the Admiralty ordered that they be rebuilt as the composite Zubian and put back into service. She was commissioned into the fleet in June 1917. The name Zubian is a portmanteau of the names of the original ships.
USS Susquehanna (ID-3016) was a transport for the United States Navy during World War I. She was the second U.S. Navy ship to be named for the Susquehanna River. Before the war she operated at SS Rhein, an ocean liner for North German Lloyd. She was the lead ship of her class of three ocean liners. After the end of World War I, the ship operated briefly in passenger service as SS Susquehanna. Laid up in 1922, Susquehanna was sold to Japanese ship breakers in 1928 and scrapped.
Duilio was an Italian Andrea Doria-class battleship that served in the Regia Marina during World War I and World War II. She was named after the Roman fleet commander Gaius Duilius. Duilio was laid down in February 1912, launched in April 1913, and completed in May 1916. She was initially armed with a main battery of thirteen 305 mm (12.0 in) guns, but a major reconstruction in the late 1930s replaced these with ten 320 mm (13 in) guns. Duilio saw no action during World War I owing to the inactivity of the Austro-Hungarian fleet during the conflict. She cruised the Mediterranean in the 1920s and was involved in the Corfu incident in 1923.
USS Parker was an Aylwin-class destroyer built for the United States Navy prior to the American entry into World War I. The ship was the first U.S. Navy vessel named in honor of Foxhall A. Parker, Jr., a U.S. Navy officer who served in the American Civil War, and as Superintendent of United States Naval Academy.
USS Comfort (AH-3) was a hospital ship for the United States Navy in World War I. She was the sister ship of USS Mercy (AH-4) but the two ships were not of a ship class. Comfort was known as SS Havana in passenger service for the Ward Line, and as USAT Havana in United States Army service before her Navy service. Her name was restored to Havana in 1927, and she was renamed SS Yucatán in 1935, and SS Agwileon in 1941. In World War II, she was known as USAT Agwileon and USAHS Shamrock in service for the United States Army.
The S class was a class of 67 destroyers ordered for the Royal Navy in 1917 under the 11th and 12th Emergency War Programmes. They saw active service in the last months of the First World War and in the Russian and Irish Civil Wars during the early 1920s. Most were relegated to the reserve by the mid-1920s and subsequently scrapped under the terms of the London Naval Treaty. Eleven survivors saw much action during the Second World War.
The first RMS Windsor Castle, along with her sister, RMS Arundel Castle, was an ocean liner laid down by the Union-Castle Line for service from the United Kingdom to South Africa. During World War 2 the Windsor Castle was requisitioned as a troopship and on 23 March 1943 was sunk by an aerial torpedo off the coast of Algeria.
SMS Brummer was a minelaying light cruiser of the German Kaiserliche Marine; she was the lead ship of her class. Her sister ship was Bremse. Brummer was laid down at AG Vulcan's shipyard in Stettin, Germany on 24 April 1915 and launched on 11 December 1915 and completed on 2 April 1916. Armed with a main battery of four 15-centimeter (5.9 in) guns in single mounts, she carried 400 mines.
SMS Bremse was a Brummer-class minelaying light cruiser of the German Kaiserliche Marine. She was laid down by AG Vulcan Stettin on 27 April 1915 and launched on 11 March 1916 at Stettin, Germany, the second of the two-ship class after her sister, SMS Brummer. She served during the First World War, operating most of the time in company with her sister. The two ships took part in an ambush on a convoy in the North Sea, where they sank two destroyers in a surprise attack, before hunting down and sinking nine merchantmen, after which they returned to port unscathed.
SS Empire Advocate was a 5,787 ton steamship which was built in 1913 as the Solfels. She was taken as war reparations in 1919 and renamed Bowes Castle in 1920. In 1932 she was sold to Italy, being renamed Angelina Lauro, being seized in 1940 and renamed Empire Advocate. She was scrapped at Bo'ness in 1945.
RMS Durham Castle was a passenger ship built for the Union-Castle Mail Steamship Company in 1904. In 1939, the Admiralty requisitioned her for use as a store ship. She sank on 26 January 1940 after hitting a mine probably laid by the German submarine U-57.
HMS Venomous (ex-Venom), was a Modified W-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service in the Russian Civil War and World War II.
The eighth HMS Worcester, was a Modified W-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service in World War II. She later served as an accommodation ship as the second HMS Yeoman.
The B 97 class was a class of eight destroyers built for and operated by the Imperial German Navy during the First World War. They served throughout the war, with one being lost in 1915, five being scuttled at Scapa Flow in 1919 and one being transferred to Italy, where it remained in use until 1939.
SS Stratheden was a UK-built steam turbine ocean liner. She spent most of her career with the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, including the Second World War when she served for six years as a troop ship.
SS Norseman was a British cargo liner that was torpedoed by the German submarine SM U-39 in the Mediterranean Sea off Thessaloniki, Greece on 22 January 1916 while on route from Plymouth, United Kingdom to Thessaloniki, Greece, while carrying a varied cargo including about 1,100 mules and munitions. Norseman was subsequently beached at Moudros, Greece, and declared a total loss. She was scrapped in situ in 1920.