HMT Minneapolis
From Our Contribution
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| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | HMT Minneapolis |
| Owner | Atlantic Transport Co. |
| Builder | Harland & Wolff, Belfast |
| Launched | 18 Nov 1899 |
| Completed | 29 Mar 1900 |
| In service | 1900 |
| Out of service | 23 Mar 1916 |
| Fate | Torpedoed |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Passenger ship |
| Tonnage | 13,443 tons |
| Length | 600 ft 6 in (183.11m) |
| Beam | 65 ft 6 in (19.96m) |
| Depth | 39 ft 6 in (12.04m) |
| Propulsion | twin screw |
| Speed | 16 knots (29.63 km/h) |
Remarks
Owned at the time of her loss by the Atlantic Transport Co. Ltd. The Minneapolis cost $1,419,120 (£292,000) to build and had the largest registered tonnage of any ship afloat excepting the Oceanic when she was launched. Unusually, her maiden voyage took her across the Atlantic sailing in ballast. She collected her initial cargo and passengers in New York and arrived on the Thames for the first time on May 1, 1900. She is recorded in the Morton Allan Directory of European Passenger Steamship Arrivals making a grand total of 155 voyages to New York between May 1900 and February 1915.
On March 23rd, 1916, Minneapolis, on a voyage from Marseille to Alexandria carrying 60 tons horse fodder, was torpedoed by the German submarine U-35, 195 miles of the coast of Malta. 12 persons were lost. The destroyer Sheldrake rescued 166 of her crew and 1 passenger. Minneapolis evidently remained afloat for some hours after the attack and an attempt was made to tow her to Malta. She was towed in turn by the destroyer HMS Lydiard, the sloop HMS Nasturtium and finally by the tugs Veteran and Milon, but she sank on March 25.