RMS ''Duke of Lancaster'' was a

steam turbine A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...

passenger ship 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 ...

operated by the London Midland and Scottish Railway from 1928 to 1956 between England and Northern Ireland across the Irish Sea.

In service

She entered service with two other ships, and . Built at William Denny and Brothers, Dumbarton and completed in 1928, she was designed to operate as a passenger ferry between Heysham, Lancashire and Belfast. In May 1929 she sustained slight damage after a collision with her

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

''Duke of Rothesay''. On 27 November 1931 she caught fire at Heysham and burned until scuttled on the following day. She was raised in January 1932, repaired at William Denny and Brothers, and returned to service in the following June. In August 1932 ''Duke of Lancaster'' went aground on

Copeland Island The Copeland Islands is a group of three islands in the north Irish Sea, north of Donaghadee, County Down, Northern Ireland, consisting of Lighthouse Island (also known as Old Island), Copeland Island (also known as Big Island), and Mew Island. ...

in a fog, but was refloated successfully, and in September 1934 collided with a trawler in Morecambe Bay. She ran aground again at Bride at the Point of Ayre on the Isle of Man on 14 June 1937, but was refloated the following day. On 13 January 1940 she collided with and sank the coaster ''Fire King'' belonging to Gilchrist traders of liverpool In 1941 ''Duke of Lancaster'' as requisitioned as HM ''Hospital Ship No.56'', with capacity for 408 patients and 60 medical staff, as well as 100 crew. In June 1944 she accompanied the troopships to the Normandy landings. The ship was refitted after the war and fitted with, and used for testing, Marconi's first civil marine radar, the 'Radiolocator 1'. In 1956, like with her sister ships, she was replaced by a new .

Fate

She was broken up at Briton Ferry on 18 October 1956 by Thos. W. Ward.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duke of Lancaster (1927) Passenger ships of the United Kingdom Ferries of the United Kingdom 1927 ships Ferries of Wales Ships of British Rail Ships of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway Ships built on the River Clyde Maritime incidents in 1929 Maritime incidents in 1931 Maritime incidents in 1932 Maritime incidents in 1934 Maritime incidents in 1937 Maritime incidents in January 1940