Duchess of Atholl (ship)
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The Duchess of Atholl was an ocean liner put into service in 1928 by the Canadian shipping company Canadian Pacific Steamship Company , which was used for the transport of passengers, cargo and mail between Canada and Great Britain . During the Second World War , the Duchess of Atholl served as a troop transport until it was sunk by a German submarine on October 10, 1942 in the South Atlantic .
history
The 20,119 GRT steam turbine ship Duchess of Atholl was built at Dalmuir Naval Construction Works in Dalmuir , a branch of the William Beardmore and Company shipyard , and was launched there on November 23, 1927. She was the second Duchess class ship to enter service in the late 1920s. The other three were the Duchess of York (1928), the Duchess of Bedford (1928; from 1947 Empress of France ) and the Duchess of Richmond (1929; from 1947 Empress of Canada ). Because they rolled conspicuously in heavy seas , the sister ships were also called "The Drunken Duchesses" (German: The drunken duchesses).
The Duchess of Atholl was 183.18 meters long, 22.92 meters wide and had a maximum draft of 12.7 meters. It was powered by steam turbines that ran on two propellers and made 20,000 hp. The maximum speed was 17.5 knots. During the construction work, one of the turbines fell from a crane and the damage caused delayed completion. Therefore, she could not leave Liverpool for her maiden voyage to Québec and Montreal until July 23, 1928 . The ship could carry 580 passengers in the cabin class, 480 in the tourist class and 510 in the third class.
The Duchess of Atholl briefly held the record for the fastest crossing from Canada to Liverpool with six days and 13 minutes. On January 4, 1929, the ship left Liverpool for its first cruise to South America and South Africa . In October 1935, the Duchess of Atholl lost her oar at sea and had to be towed into the Mersey . By the outbreak of war, the Duchess of Atholl carried out 109 crossings to Canada, four trips to Bermuda and 44 cruises. In December 1939 she was called up for military service and undertook several troop trips as a troop transport from Marseille to Alexandria . In May 1940 she was returned to the shipping company.
Six more transatlantic crossings followed. The first of these included 800 British children evacuated to Canada. On November 15, 1940, the Duchess of Atholl was drafted again and mainly used for troop trips from the Clyde to the Middle East via Cape Town . In May 1942 she took part in the Allied conquest of Madagascar .
Sinking
On October 3, 1942, the Duchess of Atholl set sail under the command of Captain Henry Allinson Moore in Cape Town for Durban and Great Britain. She came from Suez and took 534 passengers on board in Cape Town, including 58 women and 34 children. Among the travelers were some survivors of other sinkings. In addition there were 273 crew members and 25 gunners (a total of 832 people) and 3500 tons of cargo. The ship went without an escort . To arm included a six-inch gun, a three-inch gun, four 20-mm Oerlikon cannons , four twin guns of the brand Marlin Firearms , six depth charges , four Pig Troughs and four anti-aircraft missiles .
On October 10, 1942 at 8:03 a.m. the ship was at the position 7 ° 3 ′ S , 11 ° 12 ′ W 200 nautical miles east of Ascension Island in the South Atlantic sighted by the German submarine U 178 (Captain Hans Ibbeken ). It was zigzagging. At 8:19 a.m. it was fired at with two torpedoes . One missed the target, but the second hit the port side in the engine room , killing five machinists. The Duchess of Atholl was immediately flip side , the lights went out and after a short time the ship could not be controlled more.
The evacuation of the passengers began immediately. All the important ship's papers and nine mail bags intended for the British Admiralty were thrown overboard. At 08.37 a.m. U 178 fired two more torpedoes, one of which hit again. Another torpedo missed at 09.18 a.m. The last time the ship was hit three minutes later. It began to slowly sink and finally set at 11:25 a.m. The 827 survivors were picked up on the following day by the Corinthian (Commander EJR Pollitt), a former passenger ship of the Ellerman Lines , and brought ashore in Freetown on October 14 . On October 15, the survivors left Freetown on board the Union-Castle Line's Carnarvon Castle for Glasgow.