SS Taiping (1925)

Not to be confused with Taiping (steamer).

SS Taiping - Fitted out for wartime merchant marine service with an Anti-Mine netting boom fitted to the bow. Circa 1944-1946
History
Name	Taiping
Owner	Australian Oriental Line
Builder	Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock Company, Hong Kong
Yard number	619
Launched	11 June 1925
Fate	Broken up in 1961
General characteristics
Type	Passenger-cargo
Length	352.3 ft (107.4 m) [1]
Beam	48.2 ft (14.7 m)
Depth of hold	23.7 ft (7.2 m)
Propulsion	Triple expansion engine
Speed	13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph)

SS Taiping was a 4,324 ton steamship launched by the Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock Company, Hong Kong in 1925 for the Australian Oriental Line. ^[2]

Design and construction

Taiping was the second of two sister passenger-cargo liners ordered in May 1924 from the Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock Company by the Australian Oriental Line, which was owned and managed by G. S. Yuill & Company, Sydney, New South Wales. ^[3] With a tonnages of 4,324  GRT and 2,582  NRT, she was 352.3 ft (107.4 m) long, had a beam of 48.2 ft (14.7 m) and a depth of 23.7 ft (7.22 m). ^[4] Three oil-fired boilers supplied steam at 200psi to a triple expansion steam engine with a rating of 638 NHP, driving a single propeller. ^[4] Service speed was 13 knots. ^[5]

Cargo capacity was 4,000  DWT, of which 400 tons was refrigerated. There was accommodation for 278 passengers (40 x 1st, 56 x 2nd class, 182 deck passengers) ^[5]

The shipyard launched Taiping on 11 June 1925, but completion was delayed due to strikes by both port and shipyard workers. ^[6]

• 
  El Taiping c. 1935
• 
  El Taiping in 1953

Notes

1. "Lloyd's Register 1942-43" (PDF). plimsollshipdata. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
2. "Australian Orient Line". Flotilla Australia. Archived from the original on 22 March 2012. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
3. "New Ships - For Australian-Chinese Trade - Hongkong Contract". Daily Telegraph. No. 13865. Sydney, NSW. 16 May 1924. p. 7. Retrieved 27 September 2025– via Trove.
4. Lloyd's Register of Shipping, Vol II Steamers and Motorships. London: Lloyd's Register of Shipping. 1926. Retrieved 28 September 2025.
5. "Trade with East: New Steamers for Service". The Argus. No. 24666. Melbourne. 28 August 1925. p. 16. Retrieved 28 September 2025– via Trove.
6. "Hongkong Strikes". Sydney Morning Herald. No. 27305. 10 July 1925. p. 12. Retrieved 28 September 2025– via Trove.

See also

Sister ship Changte