Duchess of Bedford (ship)

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Duchess of Bedford
The Duchess of Bedford as a troop transport, October 1940
The Duchess of Bedford as a troop transport, October 1940
Ship data
flag United KingdomUnited Kingdom (trade flag) United Kingdom
other ship names

Empress of France (1947-1960)

Ship type Passenger ship
class Duchess class
home port London
Shipping company Canadian Pacific Navigation Company
Shipyard John Brown & Company , Clydebank
Build number 518
Launch January 24, 1928
takeover May 1928
Commissioning June 1, 1928
Decommissioning December 1960
Whereabouts Scrapped in South Wales in 1960
Ship dimensions and crew
length
183.2 m ( Lüa )
width 22.9 m
Draft Max. 12.7 m
measurement 20,123 GRT
 
crew 510
Machine system
machine 6 × steam turbines
Machine
performanceTemplate: Infobox ship / maintenance / service format 		14,710 kW (20,000 hp)
Top
speed 		18 kn (33 km / h)
propeller 2 × fixed propellers
Transport capacities
Permitted number of passengers 1,570
Others

The Duchess of Bedford was a 1928 commissioned passenger ship of the Canadian Canadian Pacific Navigation Company , which was designed for the transatlantic liner service. The ship, renamed in 1947 after renovation work in Empress of France , remained in service until December 1960 and then went to Newport, Welsh for scrapping .

history

The Duchess of Bedford was built as a lead ship of the four-unit Duchess class under the hull number 518 at John Brown & Company in Clydebank and was launched on January 24, 1928. After the takeover by the Canadian Pacific in May 1928, the ship took on the liner service from London to Montreal and Québec on June 1 . The other three were the Duchess of Atholl (1928), the Duchess of York (1928) 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).

After more than eleven years in liner service to Canada, the Duchess of Bedford was confiscated as a troop transport after the outbreak of war in September 1939 and initially used to transport troops and civilians to India . In 1941 she was one of the ships involved in the evacuation of Singapore . The ship transported more than 1500 men of the 18th Infantry Division.

On November 8, 1942, the Duchess of Bedford took part in Operation Torch , in which they carried troops to Gibraltar together with Warwick Castle (which was sunk only a few days later) . The Duchess of Bedford survived the war without major damage, although she was repeatedly the target of attacks.

After the war, Canadian Pacific modernized its fleet, which had been greatly reduced by war losses. The Duchess of Bedford was next to the new hull colors of the shipping company a reconstruction of the passenger facilities before September 1, 1948, the new name Duchess of France resumed their service. The originally planned name Empress of India was discarded after India gained independence in August 1947.

The Empress of France remained in service for another twelve years. In 1958/59 the ship received another modernization, but was retired in December 1960 after 32 years of service. A few days later it was demolished in Newport, Wales. The Empress of France was the last existing Duchess class ship.

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