Takliwa (ship, 1924)
 The identical sister ship Talamba as a hospital ship
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The Takliwa was a 1924 passenger ship of the British shipping company British India Steam Navigation Company , which transported passengers and cargo between various ports in India and Japan . During the Second World War , the Takliwa served as a troop transport and later as a hospital ship , until it ran aground on October 15, 1945 on the coast of Groß Nikobar in the Bay of Bengal and caught fire. It became a total loss .
Passenger ship
The 7936 GRT, steel- built steamship Takliwa was built at the Barclay, Curle and Company shipyard in the Whiteinch district of Glasgow and was launched in Clydeholm Yard on May 19, 1924. On July 18, 1924, the 142 meter long and 18.3 meter wide passenger and cargo ship was completed. The Takliwa had three chimneys, two masts and two propellers and was powered by two four-cylinder triple expansion steam engines. The top speed was 16 knots .
She was one of three identical sister ships . The other two were the London- registered Talamba (I) (8018 BRT) and the Tairea (7934 BRT), which, like the Takliwa itself, was registered in Glasgow. The three sister ships were the only ones in the history of the British India Steam Navigation Company to have three funnels, the last being a mock-up. This should impress the paying clientele. The ship could carry 56 passengers in first, 80 in second and 3302 in third class.
The ship entered service for Calcutta and Japan in 1924 , operated by Apcar & Co., which had been integrated into the British India Steam Navigation Company in 1912. In January 1927 it was used to bring troops of the 2nd Battalion, the "Durham Light Infantry", to Calcutta and then to Hong Kong . The Takliwa remained on the India-Japan route until 1933. Afterwards it operated between England and Bombay via Mombasa (Kenya).
Second World War
In 1940 the ship was requested by the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) for service as a troop transport . The Takliwa was in service in the Indian Ocean until July 1943 . She then moved to the Mediterranean area , where she stayed until August 1944. On November 11, 1944, she was damaged in an attack by fighter bombers from Kampfgeschwader 100 and 26 on convoy KMS 31. She escaped to the port of Algiers .
In August 1945 she also took part as a troop transport in Operation Dragoon . After that she continued to work in the Mediterranean. It was then converted into a hospital ship. Among other things, she was involved in the repatriation of prisoners of war from Hong Kong to India. On October 5, 1945, for the same purpose, she set sail with former prisoners of war on board in Hong Kong for a crossing to Chennai . Ten days later, she ran at Parsons Point on the coast of the island of Great Nicobar Island in the Bay of Bengal due and caught fire. An emergency call was deposed and from the landing ship of the Royal Navy HMS Sainfoin received. All 1083 people on board were saved. The stranded Takliwa burned out and broke apart.
Web links
- Technical and historical key data in the Clydebuilt Ships Database
- more details
- Detailed tabular representation of length of service and construction dates ( Memento from October 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- The Takliwa served as a hospital ship
- The Takliwa and her sister ships in a listing of ships of the British India Steam Navigation Company