SS Train Ferry No. 1
As Princess Iris
| |
History | |
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Name |
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Operator |
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Port of registry | |
Builder | Armstrong, Whitworth & Company Ltd, Low Walker |
Yard number | 921 |
Launched | 3 August 1917 |
Completed | November 1917 |
Out of service | 26 February 1957 |
Fate | Scrapped 1957 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Train ferry |
Tonnage | 2,683 gross register tons (GRT) |
Length | 350.6 ft (106.9 m) |
Beam | 58.7 ft (17.9 m) |
Depth | 15 ft 6 in (4.72 m) |
Installed power | 403 nhp |
Propulsion | 2 x triple expansion engines |
Speed | 12 knots |
TSS Train Ferry No. 1 was a roll on roll off freight vessel built for the British War Office in 1917 to transport rail freight to Europe during the First World War .[1] After the war, it was used for civilian purposes until the Second World War. During the war it was converted to carry and launch landing craft
After the war, it returned to ferry use and scrapped in the 1950s.
History
The ship was built by
After their use by the British Army ended in 1922, they were purchased by the Great Eastern Railway and moved to Harwich where the landing stage was re-erected[a] to provide a service to Zeebrugge in conjunction with the Belgian Government through a joint company, the Great Eastern Train Ferry Company. The Great Eastern Railway was taken over by the London and North Eastern Railway company in 1923 with its interest in the Great Eastern Train Ferry Company. The new service was inaugurated on 24 April 1924 by the Duke of Kent.[2]
On 13 December 1924 she collided with two lighters in the river near Antwerp but the incident was without loss of life.[3]
In 1934, the Great Eastern Train Ferry Company was liquidated and she was bought by the London and North Eastern Railway.
In 1940 she was requisitioned by the Royal Navy and renamed Iris. She assisted with the evacuation of the Channel Islands. In 1941 she was converted to a Landing Craft Carrier, and the twin funnels were incorporated into a single stack. In 1942 she was renamed again to Princess Iris.
Princess Irish could carry fourteen landing craft on the train deck and four more on the upper deck. Those on the train deck were launched down a chute at the stern (hence classified as "Landing Ship Stern Chute"); those on the upper deck were unloaded by crane, During the war she was mostly used for transporting landing craft.[4]
In 1946 she returned to the London and North Eastern Railway and renamed Essex Ferry. She was in service with
Notes
- ^ The original Port Richborough portal frame is still in service, 2019 [citation needed]
References
- ^ Duckworth, Christian Leslie Dyce; Langmuir, Graham Easton (1968). Railway and other Steamers. Prescot, Lancashire: T. Stephenson and Sons.
- ^ "LNER Train Ferry". Hull Daily Mail. Kingston-upon-Hull. 25 April 1924. Retrieved 4 November 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- Chelmsford Chronicle. Chelmsford. 19 December 1924. Retrieved 4 November 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Train Ferry No 1 1917". www.tynebuiltships.co.uk. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
Bibliography
- Anderson, Richard M. (1990). "Re: Mystery Photo No. 97". Warship International. XXVII (2): 107. ISSN 0043-0374.
- Atherton, D. (1990). "Re: Mystery Photo No. 97". Warship International. XXVII (2): 108โ110. ISSN 0043-0374.
- Dittmar, Fred (1990). "Re: Mystery Photo No. 97". Warship International. XXVII (2): 107. ISSN 0043-0374.
- Heine, Paul J. (1990). "Re: Mystery Photo No. 97". Warship International. XXVII (2): 107โ108. ISSN 0043-0374.