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HMT Nieuw Zeeland

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HMT Nieuw Zeeland
SS Nieuw Zeeland.jpg
SS Nieuw Zeeland 1.jpg
History
Name SS Nieuw Zeeland
Builder Rotterdamsche DD Mij.
Yard number 142c
Launched 6 Jan 1928
Completed 12 Apr 1928
In service 1928
Out of service 11 Nov 1942
Fate Torpedoed and sunk
General characteristics
Type Passenger Liner
Tonnage 10,906 tons
Length 527 ft (160.60m)
Beam 62.30 ft (19.00m)
Propulsion single screw
Speed 15.5 knots (28.71 km/h)
Capacity 123 x 1st class and 50 x 3rd class passengers with crew of 243. 1,000 troops.



Remarks

Built for KPM (Koninklijke Paketvaart Mij), she was used on the Malaya-Singapore-Dutch East Indies- Australia route prior to WW2. In 1940 she was converted into a troopship in Singapore, designed to take 1,000 troops, with a crew of 243. For the duration of the war she was run by the Royal Navy, with a Dutch crew.


Primarily used in convoys ferrying troops between the UK and Middle East ports, in 1942 she was used to land troops in North Africa during 'Operation Torch'. Having landed her troops successfully, she turned for home , sailing on the Mediterranean when on 11 Nov 1942 she was torpedoed by U Boat U407. She sank quickly with the loss of 15 lives.

Soldiers carried

Colombo to El Kantara 16 January - 2 February 1941

2/28th Battalion boarded on 12 Jan 1941