HMAS ''Berrima'' was a
passenger liner
A passenger ship is a merchant ship whose primary function is to carry passengers on the sea. The category does not include cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the ubiquitous twelve-passenger freig ...
which served in the
Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...
(RAN) during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
as an
armed merchantman
An armed merchantman is a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in lo ...
and
troop transport
A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable land troops directly on shore, typicall ...
.
Launched in 1913 as the
P&O liner SS ''Berrima'', the ship initially carried immigrants from the United Kingdom to Australia via
Cape Town
Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
. In August 1914, ''Berrima'' was requisitioned for military use, refitted and armed, and commissioned into the RAN as an
auxiliary cruiser
An armed merchantman is a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in lo ...
. The ship transported two battalions of the
Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force
The Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF) was a small volunteer force of approximately 2,000 men, raised in Australia shortly after the outbreak of World War I to seize and destroy German wireless stations in German New Guin ...
to the
German New Guinea
German New Guinea (german: Deutsch-Neu-Guinea) consisted of the northeastern part of the island of New Guinea and several nearby island groups and was the first part of the German colonial empire. The mainland part of the territory, called , ...
colonies in September.
Paid off
Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to placing a warship in ...
from naval service in October 1914, ''Berrima'' then sailed as part of the second
ANZAC
The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) was a First World War army corps of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. It was formed in Egypt in December 1914, and operated during the Gallipoli campaign. General William Birdwood comma ...
troop convoy; in addition to carrying soldiers to the Middle East, the ship towed the
submarine
A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
. ''Berrima'' continued to work under the liner requisition scheme until 18 February 1917, when she was torpedoed. She was towed ashore and repaired, then requisitioned by the Shipping Controller as a stores and munitions ferry. ''Berrima'' returned to P&O service in 1920, and resumed the expatriate run. This continued until the route's cancellation in 1929. ''Berrima'' was sold for
breaking up in 1930.
Construction and early career
The P&O passenger liner SS ''Berrima'' was built by
Caird & Company
Caird & Company was a Scottish shipbuilding and engineering firm based in Greenock. The company was established in 1828 by John Caird when he received an order to re-engine Clyde paddle-tugs.
John's relative James Tennant Caird joined the company ...
,
Greenock
Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council areas of Scotland, council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh of barony, burgh within the Counties of Scotland, historic ...
.
The 11,137
gross register ton vessel was one of five B-class passenger liners ordered for P&O's emigrant service from the United Kingdom to Australia via
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa.
A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...
, a route acquired when the company took ownership of the
Blue Anchor Line in 1910.
[ ''Berrima'' was in length, with a ]beam
Beam may refer to:
Streams of particles or energy
*Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy
**Laser beam
*Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles
**Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...
of ,[ and a draught of . Propulsion machinery consisted of two 4-cylinder ]quadruple expansion steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...
s producing , connected to twin screws, with a top speed of .[ The ship had permanent accommodation for 350 third-class passengers, plus room for another 250 passengers in temporary accommodation.][
''Berrima'' was launched on 20 September 1913, and delivered to P&O on 5 December.][ The liner sailed from London later that month on her maiden voyage, calling at Cape Town, ]Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
, and Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
before reaching Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
.[
]
Military service
In August 1914, the ship was requisitioned for military service. ''Berrima'' was taken to Cockatoo Island Dockyard
The Cockatoo Island Dockyard was a major dockyard in Sydney, Australia, based on Cockatoo Island. The dockyard was established in 1857 to maintain Royal Navy warships. It later built and repaired military and battle ships, and played a key role ...
on 12 August for refitting, but instead of being converted into a troop transport as originally planned, the ship underwent a six-day conversion for naval service. The modifications included converting holds into accommodation for 1,500 officers and soldiers, establishing a hospital was on the upper deck, and fitting four BL naval guns and magazines, two on the forecastle
The forecastle ( ; contracted as fo'c'sle or fo'c's'le) is the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or, historically, the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters. Related to the latter meaning is the phrase " be ...
, two on the poop deck
In naval architecture, a poop deck is a deck that forms the roof of a cabin built in the rear, or " aft", part of the superstructure of a ship.
The name originates from the French word for stern, ''la poupe'', from Latin ''puppis''. Thus th ...
. On 17 August, the ship was commissioned as the auxiliary cruiser HMAS ''Berrima'', under the command of Commander J.B. Stevenson. The ship's civilian officer complement were inducted into the Royal Australian Naval Reserve
The Royal Australian Naval Reserve (RANR) is the volunteer reserve force of the Royal Australian Navy in Australia.
The current Royal Australian Naval Reserve was formed in June 1973 by merging the former RANR (Seagoing) and the Royal Australian ...
, and the crew was supplemented by Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
and RAN sailors.
''Berrima'' left Sydney on 19 August 1914 carrying men of the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force
The Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF) was a small volunteer force of approximately 2,000 men, raised in Australia shortly after the outbreak of World War I to seize and destroy German wireless stations in German New Guin ...
, consisting of a battalion of 1,000 infantry and a small battalion of 500 RAN Reservists and time-expired Royal Navy personnel, for operations against the German New Guinea
German New Guinea (german: Deutsch-Neu-Guinea) consisted of the northeastern part of the island of New Guinea and several nearby island groups and was the first part of the German colonial empire. The mainland part of the territory, called , ...
colonies. ''Berrima'' met the naval units of the expeditionary force off Rossel Island
Rossel Island (named after de Rossel, a senior officer on the French expedition of d'Entrecasteaux, 1791-1793; also known as Yela) is the easternmost island of the Louisiade Archipelago, within the Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea. Tree Isle ...
on 9 September. Troops were landed at Herbertshöhe and Rabaul
Rabaul () is a township in the East New Britain province of Papua New Guinea, on the island of New Britain. It lies about 600 kilometres to the east of the island of New Guinea. Rabaul was the provincial capital and most important settlement in ...
on 11 and 12 September respectively, and on the New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu
Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea).
It is a simplified version of ...
mainland near Madang
Madang (old German name: ''Friedrich-Wilhelmshafen'') is the capital of Madang Province and is a town with a population of 27,420 (in 2005) on the north coast of Papua New Guinea. It was first settled by the Germans in the 19th century.
Histor ...
on 24 September. The ship was retroactively awarded the battle honour
A battle honour is an award of a right by a government or sovereign to a military unit to emblazon the name of a battle or operation on its flags ("colours"), uniforms or other accessories where ornamentation is possible.
In European military t ...
"Rabaul 1914" in March 2010 to recognise these landings.[ ''Berrima'' subsequently returned to Sydney and, despite plans to employ her as an ]armed merchant cruiser
An armed merchantman is a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in lo ...
, was paid off
Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to placing a warship in ...
on 20 October 1914. She was converted to a troop transport in November 1914.
In her new role, His Majesty's Australian Troop Transport (HMATT) ''Berrima'' sailed for the Middle East in December 1914 as part of the second troop convoy, carrying Australian and New Zealand troops and towing the submarine ''AE2''. ''Berrima'' continued to work under the liner requisition scheme until 18 February 1917, when she was torpedoed in the English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
off Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
with the loss of four lives.[ After the rest of the crew were evacuated by the ]destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort
larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...
, then towed into Portland Harbour, beached (due to the lack of drydock facilities), and repaired.[ The Commonwealth relinquished control on 10 October 1917. After being repaired she was requisitioned by the Shipping Controller for use as the Atlantic stores and munitions ferry service.][
]
Post-war career and fate
On 1 February 1920, while homeward bound, ''Berrima'' was stranded off Margate
Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and Westbrook, Kent, ...
due to an error by the harbour pilot
A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harb ...
.[ She was refloated the next evening.][ ''Berrima'' was returned to commercial service on 24 March 1920, and was subsequently employed on the P&O Branch Line.][ On 26 April 1929, ''Berrima'' departed on her final voyage to Australia, after which P&O shut down the UK to Australia via Cape Town route.][
On 16 July 1930, she was sold for £29,000 to Japanese shipbreakers Asakichi Kitagawa, for breaking up in ]Osaka
is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...
.[
]
Commemoration
Australian rules football
Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...
er Bob Quinn was given the middle name "Berrima" in honour of the ship.
Notes
References
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Further reading
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External links
His Majesty's Australian Transports HMAT Ships, Transporting the 1st AIF
- Australian Light Horse Studies Centre
SS Berrima
- Australian War Memorial
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berrima
Troop ships of the Royal Australian Navy
Ocean liners
Ships built on the River Clyde
Troop ships of the United Kingdom
1913 ships
Maritime incidents in 1917
Maritime incidents in 1920
World War I merchant ships of the United Kingdom