RMS ''Duchess of Atholl'' was one of a class of four
steam turbine ocean liners built in
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
in 1927–29 for
Canadian Pacific Steamships Ltd's transatlantic service between Britain and Canada.
In the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
she was converted into a
troop ship
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 ...
. In 1942 a
U-boat
U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare ro ...
sank her in the
South Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
, killing four of ''Duchess of Atholl''s crew, whilst 821 survivors were rescued.
Cabin liners
In the
First World War
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 ...
, Canadian Pacific pioneered a new class of passenger accommodation which it called "cabin class". It superseded both first and second class and proved popular. After that war the number of third class passengers crossing the North Atlantic declined rapidly, and other lines started to copy CP by converting a larger proportion of their accommodation to cabin class.
In 1926 Canadian Pacific ordered a set of four new cabin class liners for its
North Atlantic service between Britain and Canada. Their accommodation classes were to be "cabin", "tourist" and "third".
CP chose the names of the new ships to reflect this revision of classes. Since the 1890s CP had given its most prestigious liners names beginning with ''"Empress of"'', and had given many of its other passenger ships names beginning with ''"M"''. But it named the four new ships after British duchesses, suggesting a status below royalty but above any other rank.
Building
By the 1920s the marine use of steam turbines was well-established, but the four new ships pioneered the use of much higher-pressure steam than previous ships, which gave them more economical fuel consumption.
John Brown & Company
John Brown and Company of Clydebank was a Scottish marine engineering and shipbuilding firm. It built many notable and world-famous ships including , , , , , and the ''Queen Elizabeth 2''.
At its height, from 1900 to the 1950s, it was one of ...
built three of the ships at
Clydebank. ''Duchess of Atholl'' was unique in being built by
William Beardmore and Company
William Beardmore and Company was a British engineering and shipbuilding conglomerate based in Glasgow and the surrounding Clydeside area. It was active from 1886 to the mid-1930s and at its peak employed about 40,000 people. It was founded and ...
at
Dalmuir
Dalmuir (; gd, Dail Mhoire) is an area northwest of Glasgow, Scotland, on the western side of Clydebank, and part of West Dunbartonshire Council Area. The name is a lowland Scots derivation of the Gaelic meaning Big Field. The area was ori ...
, but was otherwise similar to her
sisters
A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to ...
.
''Duchess of Atholl'' was launched in late 1927, before any of her sisters from John Brown & Co. She was launched by
Katharine Stewart-Murray, Duchess of Atholl
Katharine Marjory Stewart-Murray, Duchess of Atholl, DBE (''née'' Ramsay; 6 November 1874 – 21 October 1960), known as the Marchioness of Tullibardine from 1899 to 1917, was a British noblewoman and Scottish Unionist Party politician who ...
, the
Scottish Unionist MP after whom she was named. A silent documentary film made at the time about shipbuilding, ''Birth of a Liner'', includes the launch of ''Duchess of Atholl'' and a visit to the John Brown shipyard by the
HRH Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, Duchess of York.
During ''Duchess of Atholl''s
fitting-out
Fitting out, or outfitting, is the process in shipbuilding that follows the float-out/launching of a vessel and precedes sea trials. It is the period when all the remaining construction of the ship is completed and readied for delivery to her o ...
an accident to one of her turbines delayed her completion until June 1928, at least a month after John Brown & Co completed her sister ''Duchess of Bedford''.
''Duchess of Atholl'' was long, had a beam of and draught of . She was and as built she was . She had six
water-tube boiler
A high pressure watertube boiler (also spelled water-tube and water tube) is a type of boiler in which water circulates in tubes heated externally by the fire. Fuel is burned inside the furnace, creating hot gas which boils water in the steam-gen ...
s with a combined heating surface of . They supplied steam at 370
lbf/in2 to a set of six steam turbines. These developed a combined power output of 3,557
NHP and drove twin screws via single
reduction gear
A gear train is a mechanical system formed by mounting gears on a frame so the teeth of the gears engage.
Gear teeth are designed to ensure the pitch circles of engaging gears roll on each other without slipping, providing a smooth transmission ...
ing,
[ giving her a speed of .
]
Civilian service
On 13 July 1928 ''Duchess of Atholl'' left Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
on her maiden voyage to Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
, six weeks after ''Duchess of Bedford''. That same year ''Duchess of Atholl'' set a record of six days and 13 hours for an eastbound crossing from Canada to Liverpool, but she held the record for only a month.
John Brown & Co completed ''Duchess of Richmond'' in December 1928 and ''Duchess of York'' in March 1929.[ The regular route for all four sisters was between Liverpool and ]Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
.
The new ships acquired a bad reputation for "lively" motion
In physics, motion is the phenomenon in which an object changes its position with respect to time. Motion is mathematically described in terms of displacement, distance, velocity, acceleration, speed and frame of reference to an observer and m ...
in heavy seas. As a result, they became nicknamed the "Drunken Duchesses".
On one eastbound crossing in 1935 ''Duchess of Atholl'' lost her rudder. She managed to reach Liverpool three days late.
''Duchess of Atholl'' carried wireless direction finding
Direction finding (DF), or radio direction finding (RDF), isin accordance with International Telecommunication Union (ITU)defined as radio location that uses the reception of radio waves to determine the direction in which a radio stati ...
equipment and submarine signalling equipment. Submarine signalling was becoming obsolete as a form of communication, so by 1937 it had been removed and echo sounding
Echo sounding or depth sounding is the use of sonar for ranging, normally to determine the depth of water (bathymetry). It involves transmitting acoustic waves into water and recording the time interval between emission and return of a pulse; ...
equipment had been installed.
''Duchess of Atholl''s net register tonnage was slightly revised several times in the 1930s. From 1939 it was listed as .
When the Second World War broke out in September 1939 ''Duchess of Atholl'' at first continued her scheduled liner service between Liverpool, Montreal and Quebec, taking about eight days for each North Atlantic crossing. This ceased when she reached Liverpool on 27 November.
Troop ship
''Duchess of Atholl'' was requisitioned in December 1939 and converted into a troop ship. On 4 January 1940 she sailed from the Clyde Clyde may refer to:
People
* Clyde (given name)
* Clyde (surname)
Places
For townships see also Clyde Township
Australia
* Clyde, New South Wales
* Clyde, Victoria
* Clyde River, New South Wales
Canada
* Clyde, Alberta
* Clyde, Ontario, a tow ...
to the Mediterranean, calling at Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
, Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...
and Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
and reaching Alexandria
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...
in Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
on 19 January. She sailed between Alexandria, Gibraltar, Malta and Marseilles until 5 March 1940, when she left Gibraltar and returned to the Clyde.[
On 25 March 1940 ''Duchess of Atholl'' resumed transatlantic duties, but now bringing Canadian troops to the UK. Her first voyage was unescorted ''via'' St John's, Newfoundland to Halifax, ]Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
and back.[ Her second voyage, in June 1940, was with Convoy TC 5, in which she carried 1,173 troops from Halifax to Liverpool. Thereafter she made five unescorted crossings to Canada and back, usually to Montreal and sometimes including Quebec.][
On 17 November 1940 ''Duchess of Atholl'' left Liverpool for Egypt with Convoy WS 4B, which went ''via'' ]Freetown
Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and po ...
in Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...
and Port of Cape Town, Cape Town in South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
to Suez
Suez ( ar, السويس '; ) is a seaport city (population of about 750,000 ) in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez (a branch of the Red Sea), near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same bou ...
. The convoy spent Christmas in the Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...
and reached Suez on 28 December 1940. ''Duchess of Atholl'' embarked evacuees and left Suez on 12 January 1941 with Convoy SW 4B, which gave her escorted passage as far as Durban
Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...
in South Africa. From there she continued unescorted ''via'' Cape Town and Freetown and reached Liverpool on 22 February.[
On 21 March 1941 ''Duchess of Atholl'' again left Liverpool for Egypt. She sailed ''via'' Freetown to Cape Town with Convoy WS 7, which happened to include her sister ship ''Duchess of York''. ''Duchess of Atholl'' then continued unescorted, reaching Suez on 6 May 1941.
On 25 May 1941 ''Duchess of Atholl'' left Suez on her return voyage, and three days later she reached Aden where she joined Convoy SW 7 to Durban. By the time she left Aden ''Duchess of Atholl''s passengers were 629 Merchant Navy personnel. From Durban she continued unescorted ''via'' Cape Town, crossed the South Atlantic and reached ]Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...
on 14 July. From there she sailed unescorted to the Clyde, where she arrived on 27 July.[
Records of ''Duchess of Atholl''s movements between August and October 1941 records are incomplete. On 30 October she sailed from the Clyde carrying 3,128 troops in Convoy CT 5 to Halifax and on 13 November she left Halifax carrying 2,218 troops in Convoy TC 15 to the Clyde.
''Duchess of Atholl''s next voyage was from Scotland to South Africa. She left the Clyde on 8 December with Convoy WS 14 but developed defects and had to turn back. She reached Durban in January, spent a few days in port and then sailed on 21 January for Trinidad, where she arrived on 5 February. She then sailed ''via'' ]Bermuda
)
, anthem = "God Save the King"
, song_type = National song
, song = "Hail to Bermuda"
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, mapsize2 =
, map_caption2 =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name =
, es ...
to New York, where she arrived on 15 February.[
On 19 February 1942 ''Duchess of Atholl'' left New York with Convoy AT 12. She called at Halifax and brought about 3,000 troops across the Atlantic, reaching ]Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...
on 2 March.
''Duchess of Atholl'' next took part in the Allied invasion of Vichy French
Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its terr ...
Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
. She left Liverpool on 21 March 1942 and joined Convoy WS 17, which took her as far as Freetown. From there she continued to Durban, where she arrived on 23 April. She left Durban five days later as part of the fleet for Operation Ironclad
The Battle of Madagascar (5 May – 6 November 1942) was a British campaign to capture the Vichy French-controlled island Madagascar during World War II. The seizure of the island by the British was to deny Madagascar's ports to the Imperial ...
.[ The fleet landed Allied troops at ]Diego-Suarez
Antsiranana ( mg, Antsiran̈ana ), named Diego-Suárez prior to 1975, is a city in the far north of Madagascar. Antsiranana is the capital of Diana Region. It had an estimated population of 115,015 in 2013.
History
The bay and city originally u ...
on 5 May and had captured the town by 7 May. ''Duchess of Atholl'' left Diego-Suarez on 25 May and sailed unescorted back to Scotland, calling at Durban, Cape Town and Freetown before reaching the Clyde on 27 June.[
''Duchess of Atholl'' next sailed to Egypt packed with 4,114 troops. With her was her sister ''Duchess of York'', equally packed with 4,004 troops. The pair left the Clyde on 17 July 1942 with Convoy WS 21P, which took the two sisters as far as Freetown. They continued independently ''via'' Cape Town and Aden to Suez, where ''Duchess of Atholl'' arrived on 2 September and ''Duchess of York'' arrived the next day. Three days later ''Duchess of Atholl'' began her return voyage to the UK, sailing unescorted and calling at Durban and Cape Town.][
]
Final voyage and loss
On 3 October 1942 ''Duchess of Atholl'' left Cape Town unescorted[ for Freetown, from where she was to continue to the UK. She was carrying 534 passengers: 236 army personnel, 196 naval personnel, 97 ]RAF
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
personnel, five nurses and 291 civilians, including many women and children.[
At about 0755 hrs on 10 October the ship was about 200 miles east-northeast of Ascension Island, making a zigzag course, when the ]German Type IX submarine
The Type IX U-boat was designed by Nazi Germany's '' Kriegsmarine'' in 1935 and 1936 as a large ocean-going submarine for sustained operations far from the home support facilities. Type IX boats were briefly used for patrols off the eastern Un ...
sighted her at a range of about . ''U-178'' immediately dived and at 0829 hrs fired two torpedoes at the ship's port side. One missed, but the other hit the centre of ''Duchess of Atholl''s engine room. The ship lost speed and made an uncontrolled 180 degree turn to port. As her engine room flooded, which soon caused the ship's electric lighting to fail.[
At 0837 hrs ''U-178'' fired two more torpedoes. Again one missed the ship but the other hit her in roughly the same place as the first. ''Duchess of Atholl''s ]Master
Master or masters may refer to:
Ranks or titles
* Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans
*Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...
, Henry Allinson Moore, gave the order to abandon ship. Three of the ship's lifeboats
Lifeboat may refer to:
Rescue vessels
* Lifeboat (shipboard), a small craft aboard a ship to allow for emergency escape
* Lifeboat (rescue), a boat designed for sea rescues
* Airborne lifeboat, an air-dropped boat used to save downed airmen
A ...
had been destroyed by the explosions and a fourth was too damaged to be used, but 26 were successfully launched.[
At 0918 hrs ''U-178'' fired another torpedo, which missed. At 0921 hrs the U-boat fired a final torpedo, which hit ''Duchess of Atholl''s starboard side near her foremast. Captain Moore and his senior wireless officer threw all code books, classified documents and nine confidential bags of mail overboard before becoming the last personnel to leave the ship at 0945 hrs. Four crew had been killed but there were 821 survivors, and among them only two passengers and two crew were injured.][
Some time after 1100 hrs ''U-178'' surfaced. She approached some of the lifeboats, questioned four men about the ship's name, cargo and destination, and then left. ''Duchess of Atholl'' sank at 1125 hrs at .][
]
Rescue
The torpedo attack destroyed ''Duchess of Atholl''s main wireless. Its operators used an emergency wireless to transmit distress signals, but the attack had also put its receiver out of action so they did not know whether anyone had acknowledged their signal.[
One of the lifeboats was fitted with a wireless set. After abandoning ship the operators continued to send distress signals, and made contact with the wireless station on Ascension Island.][
From Ascension Island the ]ocean boarding vessel
Ocean boarding vessels (OBVs) were merchant ships taken over by the Royal Navy during the Second World War for the purpose of enforcing wartime blockades by intercepting and boarding foreign vessels.
Ships
See also
*Armed boarding steamer ...
HMS ''Corinthian'', a converted Ellerman Lines
Ellerman Lines was a UK cargo and passenger shipping company that operated from the late nineteenth century and into the twentieth century. It was founded in the late 19th century, and continued to expand by acquiring smaller shipping lines un ...
cargo steamship, put to sea to find the survivors. ''Corinthian'' had direction finding equipment with which it tracked the survivors' wireless signals. At 1030 hrs on 11 October she sighted the lifeboats, and within five hours she had rescued all 821 survivors.[
The ]Free French
Free France (french: France Libre) was a political entity that claimed to be the legitimate government of France following the dissolution of the Third Republic. Led by French general , Free France was established as a government-in-exile ...
escorted ''Corinthian'' to Freetown, where they arrived on 15 October. ''Duchess of Atholl''s survivors left Freetown on 18 October aboard the armed merchant cruiser HMS , a converted Union-Castle passenger liner, which took them to Glasgow.[
]
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Duchess of Atholl
1927 ships
Maritime incidents in October 1942
Ocean liners of the United Kingdom
Ships built on the River Clyde
Ships of CP Ships
Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II
Shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean
Steamships of the United Kingdom
Troop ships of the United Kingdom