SS Athlone Castle
From Our Contribution
 SS Athlone Castle during WW2 - Brit Navy photo | |
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| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | SS Athlone Castle |
| Owner | Union Castle Line |
| Builder | Harland & Wolff, Belfast |
| Launched | 28 Nov 1935 |
| Completed | 13 May 1936 |
| In service | 22 May 1936 |
| Out of service | 23 Jul 1965 |
| Fate | scrapped in 1965 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Passenger Liner |
| Tonnage | 25,564 tons |
| Length | 220.98m |
| Beam | 25.25m |
| Depth | 9.8m |
| Propulsion | Twin screw |
| Speed | 19.5 knots (36.1 kmh) |
| Capacity | 246 1st class; 538 cabin class |
Remarks
She was built for the Union Castle Line's the South Africa route. On May 22, 1936, the Athlone Castle left Southampton for her maiden voyage to Cape Town, where she arrived on 7 June 1936. On a later trip, she arrived in Cape Town on April 14, 1937, and in doing so, had covered the distance in a new record time of 13 days and 51 minutes. During ww2 she served as a troopship from 27 Dec 1940.
In 1940 she was the commodore ship of a Union-Castle convoy made up of Arundel Castle, Windsor Castle, Winchester Castle, Durban Castle and Capetown Castle to carry South African troops to Suez following the outbreak of fighting in North Africa. During 1943, together with her sister ships, she trooped between the USA and UK carrying some 150,000 troops without any serious incident.
In 1946 she was used on two troop repatriation trips to Australia and one to Singapore. On September 17, 1946, she was sent to Belfast for refurbishment prior to return to her owners. In May 1947, the Athlone Castle returned to the Union-Castle Line's postal service and for the following years, sailed from England to South Africa as before the war.
In 1965 she sailed from Southampton to Taiwan, arriving there on 13 Sep 1965 to be scrapped.
Soldiers carried
Colombo Ceylon (Sri Lanka) to Melbourne 11 July - 4 August 1942
note: sailed 13 July, arrived 8 Aug 1942 in some records.