Mooltan (ship, 1923)
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The RMS Mooltan (III) 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 20,847 GRT / 12,836 NRT steamship Mooltan was built at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast , Northern Ireland , and was launched there on February 15, 1923. The ship, 183 meters long and 22.4 meters wide, had two funnels, two masts and two propellers and was five decks high. It was powered by two quadruple expansion steam engines producing 15,300 shaft horsepower (WPS). The ship had a deadweight capacity of 16,032 tons. 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 Mooltan had an identical sister ship , the Maloja (II) (20,837 GRT), which was also built by Harland & Wolff and put into service in the same year. The two sister ships were ordered from Harland & Wolff on November 29, 1918 and were the shipping company's first newbuildings after the end of the First World War . When they went into service in 1923, they were also 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 placed more emphasis on comfort and safety than on speed. They had wide decks and were particularly known for their seaworthiness and reliability.
On September 21, 1923, the RMS Mooltan was handed over to its owners after successful test drives and ran on October 5, 1923 in Tilbury for her maiden voyage through the Suez Canal to Sydney , where she arrived on December 21. During the journey, stopovers were made in Colombo and Melbourne . In the years that followed, this remained their usual schedule. On these trips she carried a large number of emigrants who wanted to start a new life in Australia. In 1929 new machines were installed. The Mooltan received turbo-electric turbines and engines of the British Thomson-Houston brand , which increased her speed to 17.5 knots. In the same train and again in 1931, the passenger areas were renovated. In 1933, the upgraded Mooltan Douglas Jardines MCC - cricket team to the UK.
War effort
On September 6, 1939, the Mooltan was requested for use as an armed auxiliary cruiser (Armed Merchant Cruiser) and then converted accordingly. In the course of the renovation work, the second chimney was dismantled, which was a dummy and only served to ventilate the engine room . This created more space for the installation of anti-aircraft guns . A second chimney was added later, but a shorter one.
During the war patrolling Mooltan in the South Atlantic and had its base in Freetown ( Sierra Leone ). She served as an escort for ship convoys and did not lose a single merchant ship during her service. On July 31, 1940, the Mooltan was in the Western Approaches heading for Plymouth when she was attacked by German reconnaissance planes . She survived the attack unscathed. On January 20, 1941, she was transferred back to P&O to be converted into a troop transport . The work was carried out by R. & H. Green & Silly Weir Ltd. executed at Tilbury and completed at Tyneside in May 1941. In 1941 she brought troops to the Middle East and in May 1942 she took part in the Allied landing at Oran as part of Operation Torch . On July 16, 1947, she was returned to her shipping company.
Last years
After the handover, the 24-year-old Mooltan , who had eight years of military service, was extensively renovated before she was released back into passenger service. It was put back into service on August 26, 1948. After the renovations, she had a slightly increased tonnage of 21,039 GRT and was able to take 1030 tourist class passengers on board. In the service of the British Department of Transport, she was again mainly active in the emigration service to Australia and was subject to a regulated travel scheme that was designed and operated by the Australian government. On the return voyages to England, she then had the “real” P&O passengers on board.
In April 1949, the 69-year-old passenger Richard Allen died of complications from a smallpox infection while he was returning to England . After arriving in Tilbury, the ship was quarantined for three days . During this time, none of the passengers and crew members were allowed to leave the ship. At least five other people died during that time. On November 18, 1953, put Mooltan in Brisbane on their last trip and ran into Tilbury on 7 January 1954th Most of the crew switched to the new P&O ship Arcadia three weeks later . The Mooltan was sold to the British Iron and Steel Corporation on January 23, 1954 for £ 150,000 and became Metal Industries Ltd. sent to Faslane-on-Clyde in Scotland, where it was scrapped shortly afterwards.