History | |
---|---|
Name |
|
Namesake |
|
Owner |
|
Operator |
|
Port of registry | |
Builder | Russell & Co, Port Glasgow |
Yard number | 646 |
Launched | 14 March 1913 |
Completed | April 1913 |
Identification |
|
Fate | scuttled 4 August 1944 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Cargo ship |
Tonnage | |
Length | 423.5 ft (129.1 m) |
Beam | 56.0 ft (17.1 m) |
Draught | 25 ft 4 in (7.72 m) |
Depth | 28.7 ft (8.7 m) |
Decks | 2 |
Installed power | 537 NHP |
Propulsion | triple-expansion engine |
Troops | 1,140 |
Armament | DEMS |
Notes | sister ships: Volumnia, Veturia, Vestalia, Valetta, Vimeira |
SS Verdala was a cargo and passenger steamship that was built in Scotland in 1913. Several times she changed owners and was renamed: as Mongolian Prince in 1917, Istok in 1928 and finally Maycrest in 1940.
The ship served in the UK Merchant Navy in the First World War as Verdala and Mongolian Prince, and in the Second World War as Maycrest. She was in Yugoslav ownership from 1928 and was registered in Dubrovnik as Istok from 1928 until 1940.
In the Second World War Maycrest served in the Battle of the Atlantic from 1940 until 1943, and in the Mediterranean theatre in the first half of 1944. In August 1944 she was scuttled off the coast of Normandy to form part of a breakwater for a mulberry harbour for Operation Overlord.
In the 1910s Russell & Co of Port Glasgow built a series of sister ships for Gow, Harrison & Co, a tramp shipping company based in Glasgow. Volumnia and Veturia were launched in 1911, [1] [2] Vestalia and Valetta in 1912, [3] [4] Verdala in 1913 [5] and Vimeira in 1914. [6]
Russell & Co built Verdala as yard number 646 in its Kingston shipyard. She was launched on 14 March 1913 and completed that April. [5] Her registered length was 423.5 ft (129.1 m), her beam was 56.0 ft (17.1 m) and her depth was 28.7 ft (8.7 m). Her tonnages were 5,880 GRT, 3,725 NRT. Rankin & Blackmore of Greenock built her three-cylinder triple-expansion engine, which was rated at 537 NHP. [7]
Gow, Harrison & Co created separate one-ship companies to own each of its ships. The Verdala Steam Ship Co Ltd owned Verdala, but Gow, Harrison managed her. She was registered in Glasgow. Her United Kingdom official number was 133113 and her code letters were JCBW. [7]
On 6 March 1916 Verdala left Kingston, Jamaica carrying 25 officers and 1,115 other ranks of the Third Jamaica Contingent to serve in Europe in the First World War. Because of enemy submarine activity the Admiralty ordered Verdala to proceed via Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she could join an eastbound transatlantic convoy. [8]
On her way to Halifax, Verdala was caught in a blizzard. Her troop accommodation lacked adequate heating, and warm clothing for the voyage had not been issued to the troops. By the time she reached Halifax, about 600 men were suffering from frostbite and five had died. [8]
In 1917 Prince Line bought Verdala, renamed her Mongolian Prince and registered her in Newcastle. Prince Line was part of the Furness, Withy group. In September 1921 Mongolian Prince sailed through the Panama Canal to inaugurate a new Prince Line route to ports on the West Coast of the United States. [9]
In 1928 Atlantska Plovidba Ivo Racić bought Mongolian Prince, renamed her Istok and registered her in Dubrovnik. In 1929 she became part of the fleet of Jugoslavenski Lloyd. By 1930 she was equipped for wireless telegraphy. Her Yugoslav code letters were JIPX [10] until 1934, when the call sign YTBN superseded them. [11]
In 1940 the Crest Shipping Co bought Istok, renamed her Maycrest, registered her in London and appointed Ivanović & Co to manage her. [5] Her UK call sign was GNBV. [12]
From November 1940 until November 1943 Maycrest took part in transatlantic convoys. She made ten round trips between UK ports and the East Coast of the United States. On different crossings she visited Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia and Boston. She made each eastbound crossing with an SC convoy from Halifax, Nova Scotia or St John's, Newfoundland. [13] Eastbound Maycrest usually carried pig iron, [14] [15] steel [16] [17] [18] or general cargo. [19] [20] In June and July 1942 her eastbound cargo included grain. [21] In December 1942 and January 1943 her eastbound cargo included explosives. [22]
In January 1944 Maycrest sailed from Scotland to Gibraltar carrying coal and coke with Convy OS 65 km. She visited Lisbon, Oran and Melilla [13] before returning in April with a cargo of iron ore via Gibraltar and Convoy XK15. [23]
Maycrest's final voyage was across the English Channel from Britain to Arromanches in Normandy. On 4 August 1944 she was scuttled [5] as a corncob ship to form part of a gooseberry breakwater for Mulberry Harbour "B". [23]
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.
SS Blairspey was a steam cargo ship that was built in Scotland in 1929 and served in the Battle of the Atlantic in the Second World War. In 1940 she survived being part of Convoy SC 7 and managed to reach port, despite being hit by at least three torpedoes from two different U-boats. The ship was rebuilt with a new bow and renamed Empire Spey 1942. Her original name was restored in 1946. She was renamed Evandros 1961 and scrapped in Italy in 1967.
SS Somersby was a British cargo steamship that was built in 1930, sailed in a number of convoys in the Second World War and was sunk by a U-boat in 1941.
SS Tregenna was a cargo steamship that was launched in England in 1919 and sunk by a U-boat in the Battle of the Atlantic in 1940 with the loss of 33 of her 37 crew. She was laid down as War Bulldog, but the Hain Steam Ship Co bought her before she was completed and renamed her Tregenna.
SS Hilary was a British steam passenger liner that was built in 1931 and scrapped in 1959. She spent much of her career on a scheduled service between Liverpool in England and Manaus in Brazil.
SS Savoia was a cargo steamship that was built in Italy in 1922. In 1941 the Royal Navy captured her, and the UK Ministry of War Transport renamed her Empire Arun. In 1947 she was sold and renamed Granlake. With further changes of owner she was renamed Dryad in 1949; Shiranesan Maru in 1951; and Dainichi Maru in 1962. The romanised spelling of her name had been revised to Tainichi Maru by 1967. She was scrapped in Japan in 1969.
SS Empire Energy was a cargo steamship. She was built in Germany in 1923 as Grete for small German tramp shipping company. In 1934 the Italian shipping magnate Achille Lauro bought her and renamed her Gabbiano.
SS Iron Chieftain was a bulk carrier that was built in Scotland in 1937 for the Australian Broken Hill Pty, Ltd (BHP) to carry iron ore. A Japanese submarine sank her by torpedo off the coast of New South Wales in 1942, killing 12 of her crew. Her wreck is protected by the Australian federal Underwater Cultural Heritage Act 2018.
SS Westernland was a transatlantic ocean liner that was launched as Regina in Scotland in 1917, renamed Westernland in 1929 and was scrapped in 1947. She began her career as a troop ship repatriating US troops after the Armistice of 11 November 1918. In the Second World War, Westernland served as a troop ship, repair ship and destroyer depot ship.
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 Sagaing was a British passenger and cargo steamship that was launched in Scotland in 1924. Her peacetime route was a scheduled service between Glasgow or Liverpool, and Rangoon. In 1942, Japanese aircraft damaged her in Trincomalee Harbour in the Easter Sunday Raid on Ceylon. In 1943 she was scuttled to form a pier. In 2018 her wreck was raised, removed from the harbour, and scuttled in deeper water.
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.
MV Seaforth was an Elder Dempster Lines cargo motor ship that traded between Liverpool and West Africa. She was launched in 1938 in Scotland and sunk in 1941 in the North Atlantic.
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.
SS Tregarthen was a cargo steamship that was built in Scotland for the Hain Steam Ship Co in 1936. She was sunk with all hands by a U-boat in 1941 in the Battle of the Atlantic.
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.
SS Pennington Court was a British cargo steamship. She was launched in 1924 as Rochdale and renamed Pennington Court in 1927. In the Second World War she carried iron ore, grain and other supplies to Britain. She was sunk with all hands in the Battle of the Atlantic in 1942.
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.