The 12,973 GRT steamship Armadale Castle was built at Fairfield Shipbuilders in Govan near Glasgow . Her identical sister ship was the Kenilworth Castle (12,974 GRT), which was built by Harland & Wolff in Belfast at the same time and put into service in 1904. These two ships were the first new orders after the shipping companies Union Steamship Company Ltd. ( Union Line , founded 1857) and Castle Mail Packet Company Ltd. ( Castle Line , founded 1862) and formed the new Union-Castle Line. Up until then they were the largest ships of the two original shipping companies.
The 173.76 meter long and 19.6 meter wide RMS Armadale Castle had two chimneys, two masts and two propellers . She was powered by two quadruple expansion steam engines that developed 12,000 PSi and allowed a top speed of 17 knots. It was launched at Fairfield Shipbuilders on August 11, 1903 and was completed in November 1903. On December 5, 1903, the ship went on its maiden voyage and on the passenger and postal service of the Union-Castle Line between Southampton and Cape Town .
In August 1914, the Armadale Castle was taken over by the British Admiralty and converted into an auxiliary cruiser (Armed Merchant Cruiser). In 1914 and 1915 she supported the occupation of the German South West Africa colony . She later served in the 10th Cruiser Squadron (tenth cruiser squadron) in the North Sea . In 1919 she was returned to her owners and was used again in the regular passenger and postal service of the Union-Castle Line. In 1934, the second class accommodations were dismantled. In 1935 the ship was launched in Netley Abbey . In 1936 the Armadale Castle made another crossing to South Africa, but was then scrapped at the Hughes Bolckow Shipbreaking Company in Blyth .
