The RMS Balmoral Castle (II) was a passenger steamer put into service in 1910, which was used by the British shipping company Union-Castle Line for passenger and mail traffic between Great Britain and South Africa . For years she was one of the largest ships in the shipping company. In 1939 she was scrapped in Wales .
history
The first class dining room.
The 13,361 GRT steamship Balmoral Castle was built at Fairfield Shipbuilders in Govan near Glasgow . She had an identical sister ship , the Edinburgh Castle (13,330 GRT), which was built at the same time at Harland & Wolff in Belfast and was launched two months later. The two ships were the first steamers on the Union-Castle Line to exceed the 13,000 ton mark. They remained the largest ships in the shipping company until after the First World War . Only the Arundel Castle and the Windsor Castle , which entered service in 1921 and 1922, respectively, exceeded them in tonnage.
The Balmoral Castle in a 1911 article.
The Balmoral Castle was launched on November 13, 1909. The 180.10 meter long and 19.69 meter wide ship had two chimneys, two masts and two screws. It was powered by two quadruple expansion steam engines that developed 12,500 PSi and guaranteed a cruising speed of 16.5 knots. The top speed was even higher. The passenger accommodations were designed for 307 first class travelers and 206 tourist class passengers. In February 1910, the Balmoral Castle ran out on her maiden voyage , which she managed in 16.5 days. She was the first ship of the Union-Castle Line, which with a Marconi ™ apparatus for wireless radio equipped. After only two trips, she was chosen by the British Admiralty to bring the royal family to South Africa for the inauguration of the newly formed Union of South Africa.
After the outbreak of war in 1914, the Balmoral Castle was converted into a troop transport. The following year she brought the first South African troops to Europe . After the war ended in 1918, she repatriated US and Australian troops to their home countries. After two crossings from Liverpool to New York in the service of the Cunard Line , she came back in 1919 to the passenger and mail traffic of the Union-Castle Line. On June 19, 1939, she arrived in Newport , Wales for demolition .
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