RMS ''Rangitiki'' was a passenger liner owned by the New Zealand Shipping Company. She was one of three

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 ...

s (the other sisters were and ) delivered to the company in 1929 for the route between Britain and New Zealand. ''Rangitiki'' was built by John Brown & Company at

Clydebank Clydebank ( gd, Bruach Chluaidh) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, Bowling and Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Mil ...

, Scotland and launched on 27 August 1928. ''Rangitiki'' measured just under 16,700 gross register tons, her registered length was and her beam was . She carried 598 passengers in 1st, 2nd and 3rd classes and had refrigerated cargo space of . The ship was powered by two Brown- Sulzer type diesel engines with a total output of , turning twin propellers.

Service history

Ordered in 1927, ''Rangitiki'' was launched in 1928 and entered service with the New Zealand Shipping Company in 1929 sailing between Great Britain and New Zealand on the route via the Panama Canal. At the start of the Second World War the ship was used for transporting children from Britain to Australia before being converted into a troopship. In November 1940 ''Rangitiki'' was the largest ship in Convoy HX 84 when the convoy was attacked by the . ''Rangitiki'' and most other ships in the convoy escaped due to the actions of escort Captain

Edward Fegen Captain Edward Stephen Fogarty Fegen, (8 October 1891 – 5 November 1940) was a Royal Navy officer and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth o ...

, commander of , who sacrificed himself and his ship to give the merchant ships the time to get away. The following month the ''Rangitiki'' had another close shave when sailing as part of Convoy WS 5, the convoy was attacked by . Returned to service between Britain, Australia and New Zealand in 1945 the ''Rangitiki'' carried numerous servicemen home from Britain as well a number of war brides. Following an extensive refit in 1947–48 the ship was then used by the New Zealand Shipping Company and continued in service until July 1962 when after 87 peacetime return voyages between Britain and New Zealand it was withdrawn. Sold for scrap, ''Rangitiki'' sailed to Spain and was broken up in Valencia in October 1962.

Modifications in service

Both before and after its maiden voyage the ship was found to have stability issues especially when sailing ''

in ballast IN, In or in may refer to: Places * India (country code IN) * Indiana, United States (postal code IN) * Ingolstadt, Germany (license plate code IN) * In, Russia, a town in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast Businesses and organizations * Independ ...

'' so modifications including reducing the height of the ship by removing most of the bridge deck, shortening the funnels and adding more permanent ballast were made. During the refit in 1947–48 the John Brown built Sulzer type engines were replaced with two Doxford diesel engines with a total power output of raising the ships maximum speed to . At the same time passenger capacity was reduced to 405.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rangitiki 1928 ships Passenger ships of the United Kingdom Ships built on the River Clyde Ships of the New Zealand Shipping Company Troop ships of the United Kingdom World War II merchant ships of the United Kingdom