SS Taroona
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (June 2008) |
Taroona, c. 1951
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History | |
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Australia | |
Name | Taroona |
Namesake | Taroona, Tasmania |
Owner | Tasmanian Steamers |
Builder | Alexander Stephen & Sons, Glasgow |
Yard number | 543 |
Launched | 22 November 1934 |
Completed | January 1935 |
Out of service | 1959 |
Greece | |
Name | Hellas |
Namesake | Hellas (Greece) |
Owner | Typaldos Lines |
Port of registry | Piraeus |
Acquired | 1959 |
Identification | IMO number: 5147011 |
Fate | Scrapped at Aliağa in 1989. |
General characteristics | |
Tonnage | 4325 grt |
Length | 354 feet 7 inches (108.08 m) |
Beam | 50 feet 1 inch (15.27 m) |
Draught | 15 feet 1 inch (4.60 m) |
Propulsion | 6 steam turbines single reduction geared to 2 screw shafts 6000shp. 3 water tube boilers fitted to burn oil |
Speed | 16 knots, top speed 18 knots |
SS Taroona was built in
Service in Australia and New Zealand
Taroona entered service in 1935 on the Bass Strait route from Melbourne to Bell Bay and Beauty Point from Melbourne to Devonport and Burnie.
Taroona was requisitioned for service as a
In her war time career she travelled 204,535 miles and carried 93,432 troops. Although frequently under fire during her ninety-four trips she remained unscathed.
Taroona arrived in
In 1959, Taroona was replaced by the Princess of Tasmania, a ship more suitable for the times as motor cars were becoming very popular and Taroona could only take 30 which had to be winched aboard.
Service in Greece
Taroona was sold to Typaldos Lines, renamed Hellas and immediately taken over by her new crew and departed Australia for Greece. She was converted to a cruise ship and operated cruises around the Mediterranean Sea until 1966. On a notable journey on 7 February 1964, former Greek Prime Minister Sofoklis Venizelos died on board the ship of a pulmonary edema, en route from Chania to Piraeus, at age 69.[1][2]
In 1966 she was laid up in Perama bay for the winter but never worked again after the SS Heraklion sank in big seas and the Typaldos Lines was found guilty. Subsequently, all their ships were sold except SS Hellas and SS Athinai. Hellas remained laid-up at Elefsina bay until May 1989 when she was towed out of the bay to Aliağa in Turkey and scrapped.
Citations
- ^ "Venizelos Dead; Greek Leader, 69; Former Premier Was Son of World War I Statesman". The New York Times. Reuters. 7 February 1964. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
- ^ "Venizelos Buried on Crete After Athens State Funeral". The New York Times. 10 February 1964. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
References
- Plowman, Peter (2004). Ferry to Tasmania, A Short History. ISBN 1-877058-27-0.
- Hopkins, David. Bass Strait Crossings, The Shipping History of the. ISBN 0-646-18635-3.
- Fitchett, Thomas (1976). The Vanished Fleet. ISBN 0-7270-0210-4.