Maloja (ship, 1923)
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The Maloja (II) was an ocean liner put into service in 1923 by the British shipping company Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O), which was used for passenger and mail traffic between Great Britain and Australia . During the Second World War , the ship served as a troop transport and auxiliary cruiser . She was then back in passenger service until she was decommissioned in 1954 and scrapped in Scotland .
Construction and commissioning
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The 20,837 GRT steamship Maloja and the identical sister ship , the Mooltan (III) (20,837 GRT) were ordered on November 29, 1918 from Harland & Wolff in Belfast , Northern Ireland . They were the shipping company's first newbuildings after the end of the First World War . When they went into service in 1923, they were the largest P&O ships to date, exceeding the 20,000 ton mark, and were only surpassed by the Strath class liners in the mid-1930s.
In the case of these two ships, P&O attached more importance to comfort and safety than to speed. The common rooms were luxurious, spacious, and richly furnished. Every single passenger cabin had portholes . The white dining room was furnished in Georgian style and could accommodate 330 guests. The reading and music salon was decorated in the Empire style . The two ships had wide decks, barely rolled, and were known for their seaworthiness and reliability. In addition, they were the largest ships of their time that could pass the Suez Canal without any problems . However, because of the relatively small rudder , steering the Maloja was a bit difficult.
The ship, 183.12 meters long and 22.37 meters wide, like the Mooltan, had two chimneys, two masts , two propellers and five decks . It was powered by two quadruple expansion steam engines producing 15,300 shaft horsepower (WPS). Six double-ended and two single-ended boilers were installed in the boiler rooms, which were operated with fuel instead of coal . The passenger accommodations were designed for 327 first class passengers and 329 second class passengers. The crew consisted of 423 people, including ten officers, 94 sailors , 22 machinists , 82 stokers and 215 people who directly looked after the passengers, including stewards, waiters and cooks.
The Maloja was launched as the second of the two ships on April 19, 1923 and was christened by Lady Elsie Mackay (1893-1928). She was the youngest daughter of P&O Chairman James Mackay, 1st Earl of Inchcape . She was the second P&O ship with that name. The first Maloja was sunk by a German submarine in World War I, killing 155. On October 25, 1923, the second RMS Maloja was completed and handed over to the shipping company and on November 2, 1923, she ran from London on her maiden voyage to Colombo , Sydney and Melbourne . In November 1923, the Maloja was hit by a strike by Australian dock workers. She ran late and had to leave 6,000 tons of cargo at the pier , which was not loaded onto the ship. In January 1933 she lost an anchor and a 82 meter long piece of anchor chain in the Bay of Gibraltar in stormy weather . In March 1933 she ran aground near Adelaide , but could be made afloat again without major damage.
War effort and last years
On September 11, 1939, the Maloja was requested by the British Admiralty and then converted into an armed auxiliary cruiser (Armed Merchant Cruiser) in Bombay . One of the chimneys was removed to make more space for anti-aircraft cannons . After the renovation, she was assigned to the Northern Patrol and patrolled between Iceland and the Shetland Islands . At that time it had the tactical identifier F26.
On March 13, 1940, the Maloja landed a ship south of Iceland whose crew claimed it was a Japanese ship named Taki Maru . The master of the Maloja was skeptical, but could not send a reconnaissance team to the other ship because of the stormy weather. Only when the weather improved, the ship turned out to be the La Coruna of the Hamburg Süd shipping company. The German crew took measures to self-sink their ship to prevent it from falling into enemy hands. After the Germans left their ship, they were picked up by the Maloja . The sinking of the La Coruna was then hastened by the cannons of the Maloja .
On November 6, 1941, the Maloja was returned to its shipping company to have it converted into a troop transport . A second chimney was added shortly afterwards. On December 11, 1942, the Maloja took part as a troop ship in the Allied landing in North Africa . On January 15, 1947, the ship was released from military service and returned to P&O. At the Royal Albert Dock in London, the Maloja was bought by R. & H. Green & Silly Weir Ltd. reconditioned for passenger service. The sister ship Mooltan was re-equipped there at the same time. In 1950 and 1951, the Maloja took part in the repatriation of Dutch citizens who left Indonesia after the Indonesian War of Independence and returned to the Netherlands .
On January 19, 1954, the Maloja entered Tilbury for the last time . She was sold to the British Iron and Steel Corporation for demolition for £ 165,000 and drove to Inverkeithing, Scotland on April 2, 1954 , where she was sold to Thomas W. Ward Shipbreakers Ltd. was scrapped.
