MV Duntroon
Duntroon
| |
History | |
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Name | Duntroon |
Owner | Melbourne Steamship Company |
Port of registry | Melbourne |
Builder | Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Walker |
Yard number | 1460 |
Launched | 4 April 1935 |
Completed | August 1935 |
In service | 1935 |
Out of service | 1942 |
Identification |
|
Fate | Requisitioned by Army |
History | |
Australia | |
In service | 1942 |
Out of service | 1949 |
Fate | Returned to civilian service |
Notes |
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History | |
Name |
|
In service |
|
Fate | Scrapped 1968 |
General characteristics | |
Type | passenger ship |
Tonnage | 10,346 GRT, 6,137 NRT |
Length | 455.0 ft (138.7 m) |
Beam | 65.2 ft (19.9 m) |
Depth | 30.2 ft (9.2 m) |
Installed power | 1,288 NHP |
Propulsion |
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Capacity | 373 passengers |
Sensors and processing systems |
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MV Duntroon was a
At the start of
Duntroon was returned to her civilian owners in 1950. In 1961, the ship was sold to Kie Hock Shipping Co. and renamed Tong Hoo. She was sold again in 1966 to Africa Shipping Co. and renamed Lydia. The ship was laid up in Singapore in 1967, and sailed to Taiwan for scrapping in 1968.
Building
Duntroon had twin screws. Each was driven by a six-cylinder, two-stroke, double-acting diesel engine. The combined power output of the two engines was 1,288 nominal horsepower.[4]
Operational history
Melbourne Steamship Company
Duntroon operated as a passenger transport until the start of World War II, when she was requisitioned for conversion into an
On the evening of 20 November 1940, Duntroon departed from Melbourne to begin a voyage to Port Adelaide and Fremantle.
During late December 1941 and early January 1942, Duntroon was used to relocate captured officers from the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran from Fremantle to Murchison, Victoria.[8]
Military service
In February 1942, Duntroon was requisitioned by the Australian Army.[5] Duntroon was one of two Australian transports, the other being Katoomba, that were substituted for SS Mariposa to transport a U.S. Army fighter group's ground troops and equipment to India. The troops and crated P-40 pursuit aircraft had arrived in a convoy from San Francisco escorted by USS Phoenix, with Mariposa and the United States Army Transport Willard A. Holbrook intended to continue on to India; however, Mariposa was withdrawn and the Australian transports substituted. Phoenix, with Duntroon, Katoomba, and Holbrook, departed Melbourne on 12 February as convoy MS.5 bound for Colombo, Ceylon by way of Fremantle. There, USS Langley and Sea Witch joined with a cargo of aircraft for Java, and the convoy departed Fremantle on 22 February. Langley and Sea Witch left the convoy to proceed independently to Java on 23 February, while the remaining ships continued under Phoenix's escort until that cruiser was relieved by HMS Enterprise on 28 February, about 300 miles west of Cocos Island. The convoy arrived at Colombo on 5 March.[9]
Duntroon transported elements of the Second Australian Imperial Force such as the 2/16th Battalion and others from the Middle East and some Asian theatres of war back to Australia[10][11][12][13] before commencing operations in the South West Pacific and Far East. This included strategic transportation of battalion-strength bodies of troops (such as the 57th/60th Battalion),[14] equipment and supplies from Australia to the South West Pacific theatre of war, and movement of troops around the islands of that region.[15]
Duntroon was involved in a second collision in November 1943, this time with United States Navy destroyer USS Perkins. The destroyer was sailing from Milne Bay to Buna when she was rammed portside amidships and cut in two by Duntroon just before 02:00 on 29 November, 2 nautical miles (3.7 km; 2.3 mi) from Ipoteto Island (S9.6301, E150.0219).[16] Nine Americans were killed, and one injured.[5] A court of inquiry, held in San Francisco the following month, later held the captain of Perkins accountable for the incident, along with his executive officer and officer-of-the-deck.[5]
After being repaired, Duntroon returned to service, and between 24 and 28 December 1944, she transported the 58th/59th Battalion from Julago, Queensland to Torokina, Bougainville.[17]
After the war's end, in 1946, Duntroon was used to transport prisoner of war reception units (medical teams, etc.) to Singapore to safely collect and recuperate former prisoners of war before repatriating the prisoners back to Australia.[18]
Throughout her wartime career she transported over 170,000 troops.[5] The ship left Army service in April 1946, but was chartered by the RAN three months later.[19] While in RAN service, Duntroon was used to transport personnel of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force between Japan and Australia until late 1948.[19][20]
Return to civilian service
Duntroon was returned to her owners in 1946, and resumed coastal passenger and cruising services in January, 1947, sailing from Sydney to Fremantle via Melbourne and Adelaide. One of her engines broke down off Cape Leeuwin WA during this voyage slowing her down to 6 knots. On 23 October 1950, she was damaged by fire while berthed in the
Fate
In 1967 she was laid up at Singapore.[citation needed] On 22 September 1968 she arrived at Kaohsiung, Taiwan to be scrapped.[2]
References
- OCLC 741730989.
- ^ a b "Duntroon". Tyne Built Ships. Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-877058-60-8.
- ^ "Steamers & Motorships". Lloyd's Register of Shipping (PDF). Vol. II. London: Lloyd's Register of Shipping. 1936. Retrieved 3 April 2021 – via Southampton City Council.
- ^ a b c d e f g Howarth, Ross (May 1999). "Motor Vessel Duntroon" (PDF). The Duntroon Society (1/1999): 1–2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 November 2013. Retrieved 30 May 2014.
- ^ ISBN 1876043784.
- ^ a b c d "Goorangai" (PDF). Occasional Papers of the Royal Australian Naval Professional Studies Program. 1 (1). Royal Australian Navy. November 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 February 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2010.
- OCLC 45722719.
- LCCN 58037940.
- ISBN 9781503505841.
- ^ "H.M. Transport, Duntroon, at sea 1942-05-20 Captain Lloyd, Master of the Duntroon and Lieutenant Colonel A.B. MacDonald Officer Commanding troops on board". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
- ^ "Adelaide, Australia. 1942-05-22 Scene at Adelaide at the disembarkation from HMT Duntroon of A.I.F troops returning from the Middle East". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
- ^ "On board HM Transport Duntroon, at sea. 1942-04-07. Physical exercises for nursing sisters of 2/1st Australian General Hospital on the deck of the troopship conveying them from Bombay home to Australia after service in the Middle East". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
- OCLC 26582026.
- hdl:1959.4/38708.
- ^ "Perkins". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval Historical Center (United States Navy). Archived from the original on 6 May 2013. Retrieved 26 March 2010.
- OCLC 222036875.
- ^ "Singapore. 1945-09-18. Members of the 8th Division, ex-POWs of the Japanese, going aboard the Australian vessel MV Duntroon, for their journey home to Australia". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-877058-60-8.
- ^ "Kure, Japan. 1946-04-09. Troops disembarking from MV Duntroon". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
- OCLC 15053240.