SS Laurentic (1927)
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The second SS ''Laurentic'' was a
steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...
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 ...
built in 1927 by
Harland and Wolff Harland & Wolff is a British shipbuilding company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It specialises in ship repair, shipbuilding and offshore construction. Harland & Wolff is famous for having built the majority of the ocean liners for the W ...
,
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, for
White Star Line The White Star Line was a British shipping company. Founded out of the remains of a defunct packet company, it gradually rose up to become one of the most prominent shipping lines in the world, providing passenger and cargo services between t ...
. She was the last steamship to be built for White Star Line. She sailed between Liverpool and Canada from 1927 to 1936. After the merger of the White Star Line with Cunard she was used mainly as a
cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as "s ...
. From December 1935 she was laid up in Liverpool. In 1939 the
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requisitioned her and had her converted into an
armed merchant cruiser An armed merchantman is a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in lo ...
for the Royal Navy. On 3–4 November 1940 a U-boat torpedoed her off the west coast of
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when she was on a rescue mission for another ship that had been torpedoed. She sank with the loss of 49 of her
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.


Building

In the 1920s the White Star Line experienced a difficult period. It was still part of the
International Mercantile Marine Company The International Mercantile Marine Company, originally the International Navigation Company, was a trust formed in the early twentieth century as an attempt by J.P. Morgan to monopolize the shipping trade. IMM was founded by shipping magnates ...
(IMM), a US group of shipping companies, but the management of this group increasingly considered getting rid of its non-US subsidiaries. It was in this uncertain context that ''Laurentic'', the second ship of this name, was ordered. The building of the ship is unusual in several respects. It was the only time in 60 years that White Star Line ordered a ship from Harland and Wolff on a defined budget. ''Laurentic'' thus appeared to be a ship at a discount, which was unusual in the history of the company. Oddly ''Laurentic'' was built with the hull number 470, while , put into service in 1923 (four years before her), was hull number 573. This would suggest that order for ''Laurentic'' was made in the early 1920s and that the ship was unfinished for more than five years. The cause of such a long delay is unknown. ''Laurentic'' looked like ''Doric'', but she was
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with coal at a time when most new steamships were bunkered with oil. Her propulsion is similar to that of the first ''Laurentic'', completed in 1909. She had three
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. A pair of four-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines drove her
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screws. Exhaust steam from their low-pressure cylinders fed one low-pressure
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, which drove her middle screw. This mode of propulsion, called "combination machinery", was first used in the first of 1909. By the 1920s it had been largely supplanted by the use of geared turbines alone. White Star Line may have chosen combination machinery for its proven reliability for many years, but she proved to be costly to operate, which partly explains her short career. She could cruise at an average speed of . The
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delayed her completion. She was eventually launched without ceremony on 16 June 1927. She was completed five months later on 1 November, after which she left
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for
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carrying representatives of White Star Line and Harland and Wolff.


Design

''Laurentic'' was the last in a series of four ships that the IMM ordered from Harland & Wolff shipyards, after '' Regina'', ''
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'' and ''Doric''. All had a similar profile, with two funnels in their company colours framed by two masts, but ''Laurentic'' was slightly larger than her predecessors. Her
tonnage Tonnage is a measure of the cargo-carrying capacity of a ship, and is commonly used to assess fees on commercial shipping. The term derives from the taxation paid on ''tuns'' or casks of wine. In modern maritime usage, "tonnage" specifically ref ...
s were and , her registered length was and her
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was . Whereas ''Regina'', ''Pittsburgh'' and ''Doric'' had crane-shaped
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s for their
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 ...
, ''Laurentic'' had her boats on davits lined up in a double row of seven boats on each side. Her interior was designed for comfort. She had berths for 594 passengers in cabin class, 406 in tourist class and 500 in third class. Cabin-class facilities included
Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
-style lounge, small lounge, Jacobean-style smoking room, card lounge, veranda cafe, gymnasium, and children's playroom. The most luxurious cabins were decorated in
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to
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styles. In the tourist class, a good part of the cabins could accommodate two people, the rest being designed for four and six. The third class offered cabins with four or six berths. These two classes offered dining rooms, lounges, smoking rooms, games rooms, common rooms and boudoir. The ship was designed for a crew of 420 people.


Passenger career

Although intended to work the Canada route, ''Laurentic'' made her maiden voyage on 12 November 1927 between Liverpool and
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, and made her second round trip on this route on 31 December. She then made two
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cruises, in January and March 1928. On 27 April she made her first crossing on the Liverpool – Quebec – Montreal route. Since
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took over the White Star Line, the Canadian route had been operated by two ships from the company in 1927, and , as well as the older ''Doric'', and ''Regina''. Over time, however, as passenger traffic diminished, ''Regina'' was sold to another company, ''Calgaric'' was assigned to cruises, and ''Albertic'' to the New York route. When ''Doric'' was in turn assigned to cruises in 1932, ''Laurentic'' remained the last White Star liner assigned to the Canadian route. On October 3 of the same year, the she collided with ''Lurigethan'' of the Mountain Steamship Co, in the
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. Both ships were damaged above the waterline but were able to continue their voyage. An inquiry determined that ''Laurentic'' was "55 percent responsible" for the accident. On 25 February 1934 she made her last crossing on a regular line for the White Star between
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,
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and Liverpool. She was then assigned to cruising. In March of that year, she took 700 pilgrims from
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to
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for the Easter. For this voyage, ten altars were installed aboard for priests to celebrate
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, plus a cinema to entertain the pilgrims. That same year, shortly after ''Laurentic''s pilgrim voyage, White Star Line merged with its rival,
Cunard Line Cunard () is a British shipping and cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its three ships have been registered in Hamilton, Berm ...
. Many surplus ships were sold as a result, but ''Laurentic'' was kept and temporarily assigned to the Montreal route, before returning to cruising. In 1933 or 1934 there was a worldwide revision of the
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 ...
of merchant ships. ''Laurentic''s code letters KWPV were superseded by the new
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GNJT. In summer 1935, ''Laurentic'' made several cruises in
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, with fares as low as £1 per day. One of them, however, quickly turned into a disaster. On the night of Sunday 18 August, as ''Laurentic'' crossed the
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with 620 passengers aboard,
Blue Star Line The Blue Star Line was a Merchant Navy (United Kingdom), British passenger and cargo shipping company formed in 1911, being in operation until 1998. Formation Blue Star Line was formed as an initiative by the Vestey Brothers, a Liverpool-ba ...
's refrigerated cargo ship ''Napier Star'' collided with her. ''Napier Star''s bow penetrated deep into ''Laurentic''s hull, instantly killing six crew members and injuring five others. The passengers were ordered to their boat stations, until the
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finally decided that the danger was past and sent them back to bed. ''Laurentic'' returned the next morning to Liverpool. Passengers were offered berths on a cruise aboard ''Doric'', but she experienced a collision a few days later, ending her career. The damage to ''Laurentic'' was not severe, but was estimated to have cost £20,000. Repairs were immediately made, as the ship was scheduled to take pilgrims from
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
to
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on 6 September. Harland & Wolff completed the repairs in time for her to be able to cruise. This proved to be her last commercial voyage. From December 1935, the ship was laid up in the
River Mersey The River Mersey () is in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it has formed part ...
. After nine months laid up, in September 1936 ''Laurentic'' was
dry dock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...
ed in
Gladstone Dock Gladstone Dock is a dock on the River Mersey, England, and part of the Port of Liverpool. It is situated in the northern dock system in Bootle. The dock is connected to Seaforth Dock to the north and what remains of Hornby Dock to the south. Pa ...
in Liverpool to return her to working order. She then sailed to
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to embark British troops on 14 September to take to
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in response to the
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in
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. She then returned to Southampton where she was again laid up. In 1937 she took part in the Coronation Naval Review of
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at Spithead carrying government guests. From April 1938 she was laid up again, at first at Southampton and later at Falmouth.


Armed merchant cruiser

On 26 August 1939, a few days before the Second World War, the Admiralty requisitioned ''Laurentic''. Her conversion into an armed merchant cruiser (AMC) for the Royal Navy was completed on 15 October. Her armament included
BL 6-inch Mk XII naval gun The BL 6-inch Mark XII naval gun was a British 45 calibre naval gun which was mounted as primary armament on light cruisers and secondary armament on dreadnought battleships commissioned in the period 1914–1926, and remained in service on man ...
s,
QF 3-inch 20 cwt The QF 3 inch 20 cwt anti-aircraft gun became the standard anti-aircraft gun used in the home defence of the United Kingdom against German airships and bombers and on the Western Front in World War I. It was also common on British warships i ...
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guns, and
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s. She was commissioned as HMS ''Laurentic'' with the
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F51. She was one of the last ships of the Royal Navy to be bunkered with coal.


Loss

At 2140 hrs on 3 November 1940 torpedoed the Elders and Fyffes
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''Casanare'' in the
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west of
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in Ireland. ''Laurentic'' and another AMC, HMS , responded to ''Casanare''s wireless distress message. When they arrived, ''U-99'' attacked at about 2250 hrs with a torpedo that struck ''Laurentic'' in her engine room. At 2328 hours ''U-99'' hit ''Laurentic'' with a second torpedo, but it failed to explode. At 2337 hrs, from a range of only 250 metres, ''U-99'' fired a third torpedo, which struck ''Laurentic'' in the hole made by explosion of the first. ''Laurentic'' sighted ''U-99'' and opened fire. ''U-99'' then attacked ''Patroclus'', which was rescuing survivors from ''Casanare''. Between 0002 hrs and 0118 hrs on 4 November ''U-99'' hit ''Patroclus'' with four torpedoes and two of four rounds from her deck gun. At 0239 hrs an
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flying boat passed overhead, forcing ''U-99'' to dive. At 0404 hrs ''U-99'' resurfaced and resumed her attack. At 0453 hrs she fired a torpedo that hit ''Laurentic'' astern, detonating her
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s. She sank within minutes. Two officers and 47 ratings of her 416
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were killed. ''U-99'' then torpedoed ''Patroclus'' at 0516 hrs and 0525 hrs, breaking her back and sinking her. The destroyer then arrived, drove ''U-99'' away and turned to rescue survivors from ''Laurentic''. ''Hesperus'' picked up ''Laurentic''s commander, Captain EP Vivian, 50 of his officers and 316 ratings. The destroyer rescued survivors from ''Patroclus''. ''Laurentic'' was one of the last four White Star ships, along with the liners and and the tender . ''Laurentic'' was also the last White Star ship to be sunk.


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Laurentic (1927) 1927 ships World War II Auxiliary cruisers of the Royal Navy Maritime incidents in 1935 Maritime incidents in November 1940 Ocean liners Ships of the White Star Line Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II Shipwrecks of Ireland Ships built in Belfast Ships built by Harland and Wolff World War II passenger ships of the United Kingdom World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean