SS Clan Macalister (1930)

Last updated

At Cape Town (MP) 2018 201.jpg
Model of the ship at the South African Maritime Museum
History
Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom
NameClan Macalister
Namesake Clan MacAlister
Owner Clan Line Steamers Ltd
OperatorCayzer, Irvine & Co Ltd
Port of registry Glasgow
Builder Greenock Dockyard Company
Yard number418
Launched29 January 1930
CompletedApril 1930
Acquired8 May 1930
Identification
FateSunk by air attack, 29 May 1940
General characteristics
Type heavy-lift ship
Tonnage
  • as built:
  • 6,795  GRT
  • 4,097  NRT
  • 1934 onward:
  • 6,787  GRT
  • 4,081  NRT
Length453.8 ft (138.3 m)
Beam62.3 ft (19.0 m)
Depth28.9 ft (8.8 m)
Decks2
Installed power
Propulsion
Speed13 knots (24 km/h)
Crew75 + 4 DEMS gunners
Sensors and
processing systems
Notes sister ships: Clan Macdonald, Clan Macdougall, Clan Macpherson

SS Clan Macalister was a Clan Line heavy-lift cargo liner. She was launched in 1930 in Scotland and sunk by enemy aircraft during the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940 with the loss of 18 of her crew. She was the largest ship to take part in the Dunkirk evacuation.

Contents

She was the third Clan Line ship to be called Clan Macalister. The first was a steamship built in 1891 and sold to Furness, Withy in 1902. The second was a steamship built in 1903 and sunk by a U-boat in 1915.

Details

Clan Macalister was a sister ship of Clan Macdonald, which was launched in 1928, and Clan Macdougall and Clan Macpherson, which were launched in 1929. Clan Line had all four ships built by the Greenock Dockyard Company, which it owned. [1]

Clan Macalister was launched on 29 January 1930 and completing her that April. [2] She was 453.8 ft (138.3 m) long, had a beam of 62.3 ft (19.0 m), and as built her tonnages were 6,795  GRT and 4,097  NRT. [3]

Whereas Clan Macdonald and Clan Macdougall were motor ships, for Clan Macpherson and Clan Macalister Clan Line reverted to a triple-expansion engine linked to a Bauer-Wach low-pressure exhaust steam turbine. The turbine drove the same shaft as her piston engine by double-reduction gearing and a Föttinger fluid coupling. The combined power of her piston engine and turbine was 719 NHP. [3]

John G. Kincaid & Company of Greenock built Clan Macalister's triple-expansion engine. [3] William Beardmore and Company of Glasgow made her Bauer-Wach turbine. [2] On 8 May 1930 she passed her sea trials. On her speed trial she achieved 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h). She was handed over to her owners the same day. [4]

At least one of Clan Macalister's derricks could lift 50 tons. [1]

Clan Macalister's UK official number was 161909. [3] Her code letters were LFVP until 1933–34, when they were superseded by the call sign GQYP. [5]

Loss

The UK Government requisitioned Clan Macalister on 28 September 1939. [4]

On 27 May 1940 Clan Macalister was in Southampton when the Admiralty requisitioned her to assist the evacuation of UK and Allied forces from Dunkirk. With her heavy-lift derricks she loaded eight landing craft and sailed for Dunkirk. [6]

On the morning of 29 May Clan Macalister anchored about 1+12 nautical miles (2.8 km) off Dunkirk and with her derricks unloaded her landing craft. Two were damaged while being unloaded, but the other six began evacuating troops. [6]

At 1545 hrs three bombs dropped by German aircraft hit the ship, and a fire broke out in her number 5 hold. The destroyer HMS Malcolm rescued her troops and wounded members of Clan Macalister's crew, and tried to fight the fire. The minesweeper HMS Pangbourne rescued the remainder of Clan Macalister's crew, [4] including her Master, RW Mackie. [6]

18 of Clan Macalister's crew were killed. [4]

Related Research Articles

SS <i>Shinyō Maru</i> Second World War Japanese hell ship

Shin'yō Maru was a cargo steamship that was built in 1894, had a fifty-year career under successive British, Australian, Chinese and Greek owners, was captured by Japan in the Second World War, and sunk by a United States Navy submarine in 1944.

SS <i>Clan Alpine</i> (1918)

SS Clan Alpine was a UK steam cargo liner. She was launched in 1918 and sunk by a U-boat in 1943.

SS <i>Clan Fraser</i> (1938) British cargo ship

SS Clan Fraser was a British cargo steamship. She served in the Second World War and was bombed and sunk in Greece in 1941.

SS <i>Clan Chisholm</i> (1937)

SS Clan Chisholm was a British cargo steamship. She was torpedoed and sunk in the Second World War while carrying cargo from India to Scotland.

SS <i>Clan Forbes</i> (1938) British cargo steamship

The SS Clan Forbes was a British cargo steamship. She was built for Clan Line Steamers Ltd as one of its Cameron-class steamships. She was launched at Greenock in 1938, served in the Second World War and was scrapped in Hong Kong 1959.

SS Clan Macneil was a UK steam cargo liner. She was launched in 1921, survived the Second World War and scrapped in 1952. She spent her entire career with Clan Line.

MV <i>Wickenburgh</i>

Wickenburgh was a cargo liner that was built in 1938 as Adler by Lübecker Maschinenbau Gesellschaft, Lübeck for German owners. Requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine in 1940, she was seized by the Allies in Vordingborg, Denmark in May 1945, passed to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) and renamed Empire Coningsby. In 1946, she was transferred to the Dutch Government and renamed Margeca. In 1947 she was sold into merchant service and renamed Wickenburgh. In 1953 her compound steam engine and low-pressure steam turbine were replaced with a diesel engine, with a reduction in gross register tonnage from 1,494 to 1,420. She was sold to Greek owners in 1963 and renamed Nissos Thassos. In 1970 she was sold to Panamanian owners and renamed Savilco. She was scrapped in 1984.

SS Dover Hill was a United Kingdom shelter deck cargo steamship. She was launched as Maenwen but before she was completed Clan Line bought her and renamed her Clan Macvicar. She spent most of her career under this name, but is noted for her Second World War service under her later name Dover Hill.

SS Hertford was a refrigerated cargo steamship that was launched in Germany in 1917, seized by the United Kingdom in 1920 as World War I reparations, and sunk by a U-boat in 1942 with the loss of four members of her crew.

SS Clan Macarthur was a British refrigerated cargo steamship. She was built for Cayzer, Irvine and Company's Clan Line Steamers Ltd as one of its Cameron-class steamships. She was launched in Greenock in 1936 and sunk in the Indian Ocean by enemy action in August 1943.

SS <i>Karsik</i> (1938)

SS Karsik was a German-built cargo steamship. Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau (Deschimag) built her as Soneck for Deutsche Dampfschifffahrts-Gesellschaft "Hansa" in 1938.

SS Clan Macfadyen was a UK steam cargo liner. She was launched in 1923 and spent her entire career with Clan Line. A U-boat sank her in 1942 with the loss of 82 lives.

SS City of Bedford was a British cargo steamship. She was launched in 1924 in Sunderland for Hall Line Ltd of Liverpool, a member of the Ellerman Lines group.

SS <i>Bärenfels</i> (1921) German merchant ship

SS Bärenfels was a German steam cargo liner that was launched in 1921 for DDG Hansa. In 1940, she took part in the German invasion of Norway and was sunk by Fleet Air Arm dive bombers. Her wreck was raised, and in 1941, she was returned to service. In 1944, a Royal Navy midget submarine sank her, killing 11 of her complement. In 1947, her wreck was raised to be scrapped, but while under tow she sank a third time.

SS Huntingdon was a refrigerated steam cargo liner that was built in Germany in 1920 as Münsterland. The United Kingdom took her as war reparations and sold her to the Federal Steam Navigation Company, who renamed her Huntingdon. She operated between Britain and Australasia until 1941, when an Italian submarine sank her in the Atlantic Ocean.

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.

HMS Malvernian was an Ellerman Lines cargo steamship that was built in 1937. In January 1941 she was converted into an ocean boarding vessel. That July she sank after a German air attack crippled her in the Atlantic Ocean.

SS Florian was an Ellerman Lines cargo steamship that was launched in 1939 and completed in 1940. A U-boat sank her with all hands in 1941 in the Battle of the Atlantic.

SS <i>Rhineland</i> (1938)

Rhineland was a 1,312 GRT cargo steamship that Howaldtswerke of Kiel, Germany built in 1938 for Argo Line, Bremen. She was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine in 1939, and served as VP-101 Schwan, Sperrbrecher 31 and Sperrbrecher 131. She served post-war with the German Mine Sweeping Administration before being declared a prize and passed to British owners. She was renamed Weltonwold in 1948 and then Rhineland in 1949. She was sold to South African owners in 1956 and renamed Herrisbrook. She was renamed Inyoni in 1957 and scrapped in 1962.

SS Adderstone was a cargo ship that was built in Ireland in 1920. She was launched as the turbine steamship War Bamboo, and for most of her career she was called Boswell (1920–34), Germa (1937–51), or Norway Maru (1951–1968/70). She spent only about three years as Adderstone (1934–37). However, it was as Adderstone that the ship was the test-bed for an innovative development in marine steam propulsion, which used reduction gearing not only for an exhaust steam turbine but also for a high-speed reciprocating steam engine.

References

  1. 1 2 Clarkson, Fenton & Munro 2007, p. 100.
  2. 1 2 "Clan Macalister". Scottish Built Ships. Caledonian Maritime Research Trust. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Steamers & Motorships". Lloyd's Register (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1930. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Clarkson, Fenton & Munro 2007, p. 149.
  5. "Steamers & Motorships". Lloyd's Register (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1934. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  6. 1 2 3 Lettens, Jan; Allen, Tony (3 November 2014). "SS Clan MacAlister [+1940]". Wrecksite. Retrieved 23 October 2020.

Bibliography

51°04′41″N02°28′00″E / 51.07806°N 2.46667°E / 51.07806; 2.46667