SS City of Paris (1920)

SS City of Paris was a steam passenger ship built in 1922.[1] She was requisitioned for service by the British government during the Second World War.

For other ships with the same name, see SS City of Paris.

History
United Kingdom
Name: City of Paris
Operator: Ellerman Lines Ltd, London
Port of registry: Glasgow
Builder: Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Wallsend, Sunderland
Yard number: 1129
Launched: 24 December 1920
Completed: February 1922
Identification: UK official number 146256
Fate: Scrapped 1956
General characteristics
Class and type: passenger steamship
Tonnage:
  • 10,902 GRT
  • tonnage under deck 9423
  • 6,865 NRT
Length: 484.7 ft (147.7 m)
Beam: 59.3 ft (18.1 m)
Draught: 43 ft 0 in (13.11 m)
Depth: 32.6 ft (9.9 m)
Decks: 2
Installed power: 1,315 NHP
Propulsion: 3 steam turbines, double-reduction geared onto one propeller shaft

History

City of Paris was built in 1922 by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson, at their yards in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, for Ellerman Lines Ltd, of London. She was registered in Glasgow.

On 17 October 1933, City of Paris ran aground in the Mediterranean Sea off France′s Saraman Lighthouse.[2] She was refloated the next day.[3]

On 16 September 1939, whilst carrying 139 people during World War II, the ship struck a mine that had been laid by the German submarine U-13 on 4 September. She was damaged, with one person being killed, but managed to make it to port for repairs. She was requisitioned shortly afterwards and from 1940 she was used as a troopship. In 1941 she carried artillery equipment to Ethiopia for use in the Battle of Gondar[4] (November 1941). In early February 1942 she carried the 2/14th Battalion of the Australian Army from Bombay to Australia, arriving in Adelaide, South Australia, on 24 March 1942.[5]

City of Paris was converted into a personnel ship in 1944, and used as an accommodation ship from September 1945 until 1946. She was then briefly used again as a troopship before being returned to the Ellerman Lines. She was returned to commercial service in 1947 and scrapped in 1956.

References
  1. "City of Paris (British Steam passenger ship) - Ships hit by German U-boats during WWII - uboat.net". uboat.net. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  2. "British liner aground". The Times (46578). London. 18 October 1933. col C, p. 14.
  3. "The City of Paris". The Times (46579). London. 19 October 1933. col D, p. 11.
  4. https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80003923 Imperial War Museum: Bingham, Humphrey Francis (Oral History) Reel 3, about 20 minutes in
  5. "2/14th Battalion". Second World War, 1939–1945 units. Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 18 April 2011.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.