| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | 1908-1968: TSS Sir Walter Raleigh |
| Operator | 1908-1946: Great Western Railway |
| Port of registry |  |
| Builder | Cammell Laird, Birkenhead |
| Yard number | 683 |
| Launched | 1908 |
| Fate | Scrapped 1968 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage | 478 gross register tons (GRT) |
| Length | 151.5 feet (46.2 m) |
| Beam | 38.5 feet (11.7 m) |
| Draught | 9 feet (2.7 m) |
| Depth | 14.6 feet (4.5 m) |
TSS Sir Walter Raleigh was a passenger tender vessel built for the Great Western Railway in 1908. [1]
TSS Sir Walter Raleigh was built by Cammell Laird as one of a pair of vessels, with TSS Sir Francis Drake. She was on trial in the Mersey during April 1908. [2]
She was hired to the Admiralty as a tug from 1914 to 1919.
In August 1939 she was again taken on by the Admiralty but operated from Plymouth. She was damaged during an air raid on 15 December 1940 when 8 crew were injured.
In 1942 alterations were made to her superstructure for use as a mining tender.
She returned to the GWR at the end of 1945 but the following year was sold and found use with various salvage operators until cut up in 1968. [3]
The TSS Earnslaw is a 1912 Edwardian twin screw steamer based at Lake Wakatipu in New Zealand. It is one of the oldest tourist attractions in Central Otago, and the only remaining commercial passenger-carrying coal-fired steamship in the southern hemisphere.
Millbay, also known as Millbay Docks, is an area of dockland in Plymouth, Devon, England. It lies south of Union Street, between West Hoe in the east and Stonehouse in the west. The area is currently subject to a public-private regeneration creating new homes, business premises, marina, a 1000-pupil school and opening up the waterfront to greater public access.
Dieppe was a steam passenger ferry that was built in 1905 for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway. She was requisitioned during the First World War for use as a troopship and later as a hospital ship HMS Dieppe, returning to her owners postwar. She passed to the Southern Railway on 1 January 1923. In 1933 she was sold to W E Guinness and converted to a private diesel yacht, Rosaura. She was requisitioned in the Second World War for use as an armed boarding vessel, HMS Rosaura. She struck a mine and sank off Tobruk, Libya on 18 March 1941.
The Great Western Railway's ships operated in connection with the company's trains to provide services to Ireland, the Channel Islands and France. Powers were granted by Act of Parliament for the Great Western Railway (GWR) to operate ships in 1871. The following year the company took over the ships operated by Ford and Jackson on the route between Wales and Ireland. Services were operated between Weymouth, the Channel Islands and France on the former Weymouth and Channel Islands Steam Packet Company routes. Smaller GWR vessels were also used as tenders at Plymouth and on ferry routes on the River Severn and River Dart. The railway also operated tugs and other craft at their docks in Wales and South West England.
Invicta was a passenger ferry built in 1939 for the Southern Railway and requisitioned on completion by the Admiralty for use as a troopship, serving in the Second World War as HMS Invicta. She was returned to the Southern Railway in 1945 and passed to British Railways in 1948. With the introduction to TOPS in 1968, Invicta was one of 14 "locomotives" classified as Class 99. She was allocated TOPS Number 99 010. Invicta served on the Dover – Calais route from 1946 until 1972 when she was withdrawn from service and scrapped.
SS Titan was a tugboat and tender operated by the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique from 1894 to 1957. She was originally built as the TSS Cambria for the London and North Western Railway in 1889.
TSS T/T Calshot is a tug tender built in 1929 by John I Thornycroft & Co, and completed in 1930 for the Red Funnel Line. Calshot is one of only three surviving classical tender ships which served the great ocean liners. In her career, Calshot has tendered some of the most famous ocean liners ever built, such as the RMS Caronia, the Cunard Queens RMS Queen Elizabeth and RMS Queen Mary, the SS United States, and the White Star Line ship RMS Olympic. During World War II she was requisitioned by the British Admiralty for servicing troop ships and took part in D-Day. She is a registered vessel of the National Historic Fleet of the United Kingdom, holding Certificate No. 1.
HMS Urgent was an iron screw troopship of the Royal Navy. She served her later years as a storeship and depot ship based in Jamaica.
TSS Atalanta was a passenger vessel built for the London and South Western Railway in 1907.
TSS Sambur was a cargo vessel built for the Great Western Railway in 1925.
TSS St Andrew was a passenger vessel built for the Great Western Railway in 1931.
TSS Sir Francis Drake was a passenger tender vessel built for the Great Western Railway in 1908.
TSS Sir Richard Grenville was a passenger tender vessel built for the Great Western Railway in 1891.
TSS Sir Richard Grenville was a passenger tender vessel built for the Great Western Railway in 1931.
TSS Sir John Hawkins was a passenger tender vessel built for the Great Western Railway in 1929.
TSS Malines was a passenger vessel built for the Great Eastern Railway in 1921.
SS Nottingham was a passenger and freight vessel built for the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway in 1891.
SS Victoria was a passenger vessel built for the London and South Western Railway in 1896.
TSS Normannia was a passenger vessel built for the London and South Western Railway in 1911.
TSS Hantonia was a passenger vessel built for the London and South Western Railway in 1911.