HMS ''Forfar'' (F30) was a British ocean liner that was commissioned into the Royal Navy as an armed merchant cruiser in 1939 and sunk by enemy action in 1940. She was launched in Scotland in 1920 as a transatlantic liner for the CP Ships, Canadian Pacific Steamship Company as ''Montrose''. She was one of three sister ships. The others were ''Montcalm'', also launched in 1920, and , launched in 1921.

Building and registration

Canadian Pacific ordered a set of three ships from shipyards on the River Clyde. John Brown & Company in Clydebank built ''Montcalm'' and ''Montclare''. The Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in Govan built ''Montrose'' as yard number 529. Lady Raeburn, wife of the Director-General of the UK Minister of Shipping, Ministry of Shipping, Ship naming and launching, launched ''Montrose'' on 14 December 1920. The ship was completed in March 1922. ''Montrose''s registered length was , her beam was and her depth was . She had berths for 542 cabin class and 1,268 third class passengers, and her holds included capacity for of Reefer ship, refrigerated cargo. Her tonnages were and . She had twin Propeller, screws, each driven by high- and low-pressure steam turbines via single reduction gearing. Between them, her turbines were rated at 2,476 Horsepower#Nominal horsepower, NHP, and gave her a speed of . The Canadian Pacific Railway Company owned the ship, but the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company was her operator. CP Ship registration, registered her at Port of Liverpool, Liverpool in England. Her United Kingdom official number was 145919 and her code letters were KLTJ.

Civilian service

On 7 August 1925 ''Montrose'' ran aground in the Saint Lawrence River in Canada. She was refloated on 10 August 1925 and dry docked for repairs to her rudder and port-side propeller. On 31 July 1928 ''Montrose'' collided with the British cargo ship ''Rose Castle'' in the Saint Lawrence River, Quebec, Canada. ''Rose Castle'' beached herself to avoid sinking, and was refloated on 3 August 1928. ''Montrose'' suffered from excessive fuel consumption. To address this, by 1930 by Harland & Wolff in Belfast had replaced her four turbines and double-reduction gearing with a new set of six turbines and single-reduction gearing. This also marginally increased her power output. Also by 1930, she had the Maritime call sign, call sign GFTK.

HMS ''Forfar''

The Admiralty (United Kingdom), Admiralty requisitioned ''Montrose'' on 4 September 1939. Her conversion into an armed merchant cruiser was completed on 6 November 1939. The Royal Navy already had an , so the converted ship was commissioned as HMS ''Forfar''. She was given the pennant number F30. On 2 December 1940 ''Forfar'' was on the Northern Patrol. She had just left eastbound Convoy HX 90 and was on her way to join westbound Convoy OB 251. At 05:46 hrs she was about 500 nautical miles west of Ireland when the torpedoed her. The U-boat hit her with further torpedoes at 06:39, 06:43, 06:50 and 06:57 hours. ''Forfar'' sank quickly after the fifth torpedo hit her. 36 officers and 136 men were killed, including her commanding officer, Norman Arthur Cyril Hardy. The Royal Canadian Navy destroyer , British destroyer , and British cargo steamship ''Dunsley'' rescued 21 survivors and landed them at Oban in Scotland.

Building and registration

Civilian service

HMS ''Forfar''

References

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Further reading