RMS Mooltan
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (May 2013) |
Mooltan under way
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History | |
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United Kingdom | |
Name |
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Namesake | Punjab |
Owner | P&O Steam Navigation Co[1] |
Operator | P&O SN Co (1923–39, 1941–54) Royal Navy (1939–41) |
Port of registry | Belfast[1] |
Route | Tilbury — Australia[4] |
Ordered | 29 November 1918[citation needed] |
Builder | Harland & Wolff, Belfast[1] |
Yard number | 587[3] |
Launched | 15 February 1923[citation needed] |
Completed | 22 September 1923[3] |
Maiden voyage | 5 October 1923[citation needed] |
Identification |
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Fate | Scrapped 1954 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Ocean liner |
Tonnage | |
Length | 600.8 ft (183.1 m)[1] pp |
Beam | 73.4 ft (22.4 m)[1] |
Draught | 34 ft 10 in (10.6 m)[citation needed] |
Depth | 48.6 ft (14.8 m)[1] |
Decks | 5[citation needed] |
Installed power | after 1929: 2,878 NHP;[1] 15,300 shp (11,400 kW)[citation needed] |
Propulsion |
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Speed | (after 1929) 17.5 kn (32.4 km/h)[citation needed] |
Capacity |
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Crew |
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Armament |
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RMS Mooltan was an
Mooltan was unusual in combining both
Building
P&O ordered Mooltan and her sister
She was named Mooltan after the city of
The new Mooltan was the first P&O ship to exceed 20,000 tons.[
Mooltan had broad decks and gained a reputation for great steadiness, but her speed was sacrificed for reliability and comfort. She had a small rudder that impaired handling. She had two funnels, but the second was a dummy that served as an engine room ventilator rather than a smokestack.
Mooltan was finished in P&O's traditional colours: her hull black with a white band, her boot topping red, her upper works and lifeboats buff, her large vents black, her small vents buff and her two funnels black.[11][12]
Pre-war service
Mooltan started her maiden voyage on 5 October 1923.[
In 1929 Mooltan's engines were supplemented with
In 1931 all her accommodation was again revised and improved.[citation needed] In 1933 Mooltan carried Douglas Jardine's MCC cricket test team home to England after the controversial "Bodyline" Test Series. In 1938 she was altered to allow her to carry chilled beef.[citation needed]
War service
On 6 September 1939, just after the outbreak of the
Her naval service was divided between the
On 20 January 1941 Mooltan was returned for conversion to a Ministry of War Transport troop ship.[5] The work was started by R&H Green and Silley Weir Ltd in Tilbury and completed at Newcastle upon Tyne by May 1941.[citation needed] In 1941 she carried troops out to the Middle East.[citation needed]
In October – November 1942 Mooltan took part in Operation Torch.[6] She carried US Army troops from Britain to land at Arzew, about 15 miles (24 kilometres) east of Oran[9] in French Algeria.[6] The troops embarked at Bristol, England, and on 22 October 1942 they were joined by a few USAAF Twelfth Air Force anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) officers commanded by a Colonel Franklin K. Fagan, who was ordered to organise the ship's air defence for the voyage.[6] The only gunners aboard were two British Royal Marines, so Fagan selected 174 men from the US 815th Engineer Battalion[6] and got the two Royal Marines to train them all.[9] The Marines then served as pointers for Mooltan's two six-inch guns.[9]
Mooltan sailed to the landing fleet's rendezvous in the Firth of Clyde,[9] where more US troops embarked including the 439th Signal Battalion.[13] The fleet departed from the Clyde on 26 October, with Mooltan stationed on the port rear flank of the convoy.[9] The convoy was not attacked, but Mooltan used her exposed position to give her improvised gun crews plenty of firing practice.[9] The Operation Torch landings started at 0400 hrs on 8 November.[9] At 0800 hrs Mooltan entered the Gulf of Arzew and dropped anchor, and Royal Navy landing craft immediately took her US troops ashore to "Z" Beach.[9]
Mooltan was returned to P&O after the war on 16 July 1947.[5]
Post-war service
After her return in 1947, P&O had Mooltan completely reconditioned before returning her to commercial use. On 26 August 1948 she returned to service; now she was 21,039 gross register tons (GRT) and carried 1,030 tourist class passengers. Most of the outward traffic was Ministry of Transport emigration work, carrying "Ten Pound Poms" to Australia under an assisted passage scheme established and run by the Australian government. The return trips were filled with P&O's own passengers.
In April 1949 the Mooltan arrived at Tilbury the day after a passenger, 69-year-old Richard Allen, had died. The cause was smallpox, but the passenger list gave his cause of death as chickenpox. For the next three days Mooltan was quarantined before any of her passengers or crew could disembark. In this time five more passengers died.
On 18 November 1953 SS Mooltan left
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Lloyd's Register, Steamships and Motor Ships (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1933. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
- ^ Lloyd's Register, Steamships and Motor Ships (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1934. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
- ^ ISBN 9780752488615.
- ^ Talbot-Booth 1942, p. 368.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Helgason, Guðmundur (1995–2013). "HMS Mooltan (F75)". uboat.net. Guðmundur Helgason. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Fagan 1949, p. 8
- ^ "BR 6in 45cal BL Mk XII". NavHist. Flixco Pty Limited. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
- ^ "BR 3in 45cal 12pdr 20cwt QF Mk I To IV". NavHist. Flixco Pty Limited. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Fagan 1949, p. 9
- ^ SS Mooltan 1861–1884
- ^ Talbot-Booth 1942, pp. 534–535.
- ^ Harnack 1938, p. 559.
- ^ "439th Signal Battalion History (Condensed)". Battles and Campaigns. Archived from the original on 26 June 2013. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
Sources and further reading
- Fagan, Franklin K (November–December 1949). "Antiaircraft Officer with Twelfth A.F. (Africa)" (PDF). Antiaircraft Journal. LXXXXII (6). Washington, DC: United States Coastal Artillery Association: 7–13. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 May 2013.
- Harnack, Edwin P (1938) [1903]. All About Ships & Shipping (7th ed.). London: Faber and Faber.
- ISBN 0-297-78965-1.
- ISBN 0-09-145760-2.
- Rabson, Stephen; O'Donoghue, Kevin (1989). P&O (Peninsular and Oriental): A Fleet History. ISBN 0905617452.
- Talbot-Booth, E.C. (1942) [1936]. Ships and the Sea (Seventh ed.). London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd.
Links
- "Harland and Wolff". titanic-titanic.com. 6 May 2013.