MV Ulster Queen (1929)

MV Ulster Queen was a passenger ferry operated across the Irish Sea between 1930 and 1940. She became an auxiliary anti-aircraft cruiser, HMS Ulster Queen and never returned to civilian service.

For the 1967 ferry, see MV Ulster Queen (1967).
History
Name:
  • MV Ulster Queen (1930-1941)
  • HMS Ulster Queen (1941-1946)
Owner: Belfast Steamship Company
Port of registry: Belfast
Route: Liverpool-Belfast (1930-1940)
Builder: Harland and Wolff
Yard number: 696
Launched: 28 March 1929
Completed: 11 February 1930
Identification: Official No.161857
Fate: Scrapped 1950
General characteristics
Tonnage: 3,756 GT
Length: 345 ft (105.2 m)
Beam: 46 ft (14.0 m)
Draught: 4.13 m (13.5 ft)
Installed power: 10 cylinder airless injection H&W B&W
Propulsion: Twin
Speed: 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph)
Notes: [1]

History

The Belfast Steamship Co. received three 3,700 ton Harland and Wolff-built motorships in 1929 and 1930, the world's first diesel cross-channel ships. Ulster Queen was the second of these.[2]

Ulster Queen ran aground off Maughold Head on the Isle of Man on 28 February 1940. She was refloated on 27 March and taken to Belfast for repairs.[2]

Requisitioned by the Admiralty as an auxiliary anti-aircraft cruiser, she was substantially modified. Her boat deck and one funnel were removed and armour plating was added to the hull. She was armed with six 4-inch guns in three turrets and smaller AA weapons. Commissioned as HMS Ulster Queen, she was purchased outright by the Admiralty and served with the Russian convoys, in the Mediterranean and in the Far East before being paid off on 1 April 1946. The modifications were too substantial for her to return to passenger service.[3] She was laid up, and eventually scrapped in 1950.

Service
  • Liverpool - Belfast (1930 - 1940)
  • Wartime service with the Russian convoys, in the Mediterranean and in the Far East.

References
  1. "Ulster Queen". The Yard/Harland & Wolff. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  2. "Harland and Wolff Standard Motorships - The Belfast SS Pioneers". Ian Boyle/Simplon Postcards. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  3. "Ulster Queen (Belfast SS Co, 1930)". Ship.Rex.com. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
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