Remuera (ship, 1911)
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The RMS Remuera (I) was a 1911 commissioned passenger ship of the New Zealand shipping company , which was used in passenger and mail traffic between Great Britain and New Zealand . On August 26, 1940, the Remuera was sunk by an air raid by German torpedo bombers off the east coast of Scotland .
The ship
The 11,276 GRT steamship was built at the William Denny and Brothers shipyard in Dumbarton , Scotland , and was launched there on May 31, 1911, the same day the RMS Titanic was launched in Belfast . The 162 meter long and 20.6 meter wide combined passenger and cargo ship was built of steel and had a chimney, two masts and two propellers . It was propelled by two three-cylinder triple expansion steam engines that developed 7314 PSi and could accelerate the ship up to 15.5 knots.
The Remuera was able to accommodate 56 passengers in the first, 88 in the second, 126 in the third and 250 more in the so-called emigrant class. On September 28, 1911, she ran from London on her maiden voyage to Wellington . She stayed on this route throughout the First World War . On July 15, 1916, the Remuera was the first ship of its shipping company to pass the Panama Canal on a voyage from Wellington to London. After the war ended, it fell under the Liner Requisition Theme in February 1919.
In 1920 the ship was modernized, with the cabins being redesigned and switching from coal to oil combustion. As a result of the conversions, the tonnage of the ship changed to 11,158 GRT and 7113 NRT. In 1927 there were further redesigns in the area of passenger accommodation. More cabins were added on the boat deck, which meant that the lifeboats had to be repositioned. In 1933 the passenger categories were reduced to cabin class and tourist class.
Sinking
On April 19, 1940, the Remuera was requisitioned by the Liner Division. On August 26, 1940, she was under the command of Captain FW Robinson with 93 crew members and a gunner on board on another crossing from Wellington to London, when she was 12 nautical miles north of Peterhead off the coast of Aberdeenshire on the north-east coast of Scotland German air raid.
It was approaching the headland of Rattray Head when it was sighted by German aircraft. Four Heinkel He 115 torpedo bombers from coastal flight group 506 based in Stavanger and eight Junkers Ju 88 from Kampfgeschwader 30 ("Adlergeschwader") in Aalborg, Denmark, bombed the steamer and caused massive damage. An air torpedo from one of the Heinkel machines finally sank the ship at the position 57.50 ° N, 1.54 ° W.
All 94 people on board were rescued, some of them by boats from the nearby town of Fraserburgh . With over 11,000 GRT, the Remuera was one of the largest ships that sank off the northeast coast of Scotland.