RFA ''Maine'' was a hospital ship which was built in 1924 as the

ocean liner An ocean liner is a passenger ship primarily used as a form of transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships). Ca ...

''Leonardo da Vinci'' by SA Ansaldo,

La Spezia La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second largest city ...

, Italy for the Società di Navigazione Transatlantica Italiana. In 1941, she was captured by the British at

Kismayu Kismayo ( so, Kismaayo, Maay: ''Kismanyy'', ar, كيسمايو, ; it, Chisimaio) is a port city in the southern Lower Juba (Jubbada Hoose) province of Somalia. It is the commercial capital of the autonomous Jubaland region. The city is situa ...

, Italian Somaliland. Declared a prize of war, she was passed to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) and renamed ''Empire Clyde'', serving as a hospital ship for the British Army during the Second World War. In 1948, ownership was passed to the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral * Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings *Admiralty, Tr ...

and she entered service with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary as RFA ''Maine''. She served during the Korean War and was scrapped in 1954.

Description

The ship was built by SA Ansaldo, La Spezia, Italy. She was launched on 28 December 1924. The ship was long, with a beam of and a depth of . She had a GRT of 7,432 and a NRT of 4,096. She was propelled by six steam turbines, double reduction geared, driving twin screw propellers. The turbines were built by Ansaldo Sampierdarena.

History

''Leonardo da Vinci'' was built for Società di Navigazione Transatlantica Italiana. Her port of registry was Genoa. The Italian

Official Number Official numbers are ship identifier numbers assigned to merchant ships by their flag state, country of registration. Each country developed its own official numbering system, some on a national and some on a port-by-port basis, and the formats hav ...

1306 and

Code Letters Code letters or ship's call sign (or callsign) Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853"> SHIPSPOTTING.COM >> Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853/ref> were a method of identifying ships before the introduction of modern navigation aids and today also. Later, with the i ...

NVJA were allocated. In 1934, her Code Letters were changed to IBPS. In December 1929, ''Leonardo da Vinci'' was caught in a storm off

Cape Finisterre Cape Finisterre (, also ; gl, Cabo Fisterra, italic=no ; es, Cabo Finisterre, italic=no ) is a rock-bound peninsula on the west coast of Galicia, Spain. In Roman times it was believed to be an end of the known world. The name Finisterre, like ...

, Spain whilst transporting a number of valuable Italian works of art which were to be exhibited at

Burlington House Burlington House is a building on Piccadilly in Mayfair, London. It was originally a private Neo-Palladian mansion owned by the Earls of Burlington and was expanded in the mid-19th century after being purchased by the British government. Toda ...

Piccadilly Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road that connects central London to Hammersmith, Earl's Court, ...

, London. She was accompanied on her voyage by the ''

Marina Militare "Fatherland and Honour" , patron = , colors = , colors_label = , march = ( is the return of soldiers to their barrack, or sailors to their ship after a ...

tug A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...

''Teso''. The cargo was insured for £14,000,000. Works of art on board included the painting ''The Birth of Venus'' by

Botticelli Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi ( – May 17, 1510), known as Sandro Botticelli (, ), was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 19th century, when he was rediscovered ...

, the three Davids, sculptures by Donatello,

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...

and

Verrocchio Andrea del Verrocchio (, , ; – 1488), born Andrea di Michele di Francesco de' Cioni, was a sculptor, Italian painter and goldsmith who was a master of an important workshop in Florence. He apparently became known as ''Verrocchio'' after the ...

. Another sculpture was ''Virgin and Child'' by Jacopo della Quercia. ''Leonardo da Vinci'' departed London on 12 April 1930 to return the artworks to Italy. During the

Second Italo-Abyssinian War The Second Italo-Ethiopian War, also referred to as the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, was a war of aggression which was fought between Italy and Ethiopia from October 1935 to February 1937. In Ethiopia it is often referred to simply as the Itali ...

, ''Leonardo da Vinci'' was used as a troopship in March 1935. On 28 February, ''Leonardo da Vinci'' was in collision with , which dragged her anchor during a storm at

Messina Messina (, also , ) is a harbour city and the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of more than 219,000 inhabitants in ...

, Italy. Damage to ''Leonardo da Vinci'' was slight. In 1937, ''Leonardo da Vinci'' was sold to

Lloyd Triestino Lloyd Triestino was a major shipping company, created in 1919 when the city of Trieste became part of Italy in the settlement after the First World War. It ran passenger services on ocean liners around the world. Seriously harmed by Second World W ...

, Trieste. On 14 February 1941, she was captured by . At the time, ''Leonardo da Vinci'' was at

, Italian Somaliland. She was passed to the MoWT as a war prize. Her port of registry was changed to Mombasa, Kenya, under the

British Flag The national flag of the United Kingdom is the Union Jack, also known as the Union Flag. The design of the Union Jack dates back to the Act of Union 1801 which united the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland (previously in per ...

. The Code Letters VRTV and United Kingdom

159356 were allocated. She was placed under the management of the City Line. ''Leonardo da Vinci'' was a member of Convoy HX 255, which departed

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

on 2 September 1943 and arrived at Liverpool on 16 September. She was carrying general cargo and was bound for Glasgow. Later in 1943, ''Leonardo da Vinci'' was renamed ''Empire Clyde'' in line with the ' Empire' naming practice for captured vessels. Her Code Letters were changed to GCFB and her port of registry was changed to London. She was converted to a hospital ship for the British Army. In 1947 she was commissioned as RFA ''Empire Clyde'', with a Royal Navy medical team aboard. In 1948 she was renamed RFA ''Maine'', the fourth Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship to bear that name. When the Korean War broke out, ''Maine'' was initially the only hospital ship serving in the area. On 14 July 1950. ''Maine'' arrived at Pusan, South Korea, from where she ran a service carrying casualties to Fukuoka,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. On 10 October 1951, ''Maine'' lost a propeller whilst passing through the

Shimonoseki Straits The or the Straits of Shimonoseki is the stretch of water separating Honshu and Kyushu, two of Japan's four main islands. On the Honshu side of the strait is Shimonoseki (, which contributed "Kan" () to the name of the strait) and on the Kyushu ...

. and took her under tow. On 1 December 1952, caught fire at Sasebo harbour, Japan. was damaged. ''Maine'' treated casualties from these ships. For her service, ''Maine'' was awarded a Korean War battle honour. ''Maine'' was scrapped at Hong Kong in April 1954.

References

External links

Photos of ''Maine''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maine (1924) 1924 ships Ships built in Italy Ocean liners Merchant ships of Italy Troop ships of Italy World War II merchant ships of Italy Hospital ships of the United Kingdom Ministry of War Transport ships Empire ships Merchant ships of the United Kingdom Ships of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Ships built by Gio. Ansaldo & C.