SS Both
From Our Contribution
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| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | SS Both |
| Owner | Owned by the Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij (Dutch for Royal Packet Navigation Company) |
| Builder | Nederlandsche Scheepsbouw Mij. N. V., Amsterdam |
| Yard number | 208 |
| Completed | 1931 |
| In service | 1931 |
| Out of service | 16 Apr 1958 |
| Fate | war loss Indonesian (Independance) |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | passenger/cargo |
| Tonnage | 2,608 tons |
| Length | 91.3 m |
| Beam | 11.0 m |
| Depth | 5.9 m |
| Propulsion | Coal fired |
| Speed | 12 knots (22.2 kmh) |
| Capacity | 750 troops |
Contents
Remarks
Owned by the Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij (Dutch for Royal Packet Navigation Company), better known as KPM Line. The company was a dominant small ship operator in the Indonesia archipelago during the last 50 years of Dutch colonial rule. Following the fall of the Dutch East Indies to Japan, many of these small ships escaped to Australia where they were chartered by the US Army.
SS Both helped transport the Australian troops of "Gull Force" to Ambon in December 1941, and later took part in the Operation Lilliput supply convoys to New Guinea in 1943. During 1942 she came under quarantine jurisdiction at Fremantle, but little detail is available as to why.
SS Both participated in many convoys, including:
1942
- Convoy MS.2A (Jan 1942: Ratai bay - Singapore)
- Convoy GP.6/1 (Jul 1942: Sydney nsw - Townsville)
- Convoy £.A1 (Aug 1942: Brisbane - Fall River)
- Convoy BT.8/1 (Oct 1942: Brisbane - Townsville)
- Convoy BT.13/1 (Oct 1942: Brisbane - Townsville)
- Convoy £.A6 (Oct 1942: Townsville - Fall River)
- Convoy TN.18 (Dec 1942: Townsville - Pt Moresby)
1943
- Convoy BT.39/1 (Feb 1943: Brisbane - Townsville)
- Convoy TN.39 (Feb 1943: Townsville - Pt Moresby)
- Convoy NT.4 (Feb 1943: Port Moresby - Townsville)
- Convoy BT.56/1 (May 1943: Brisbane - Townsville)
- Convoy TK.1 (May 1943: Thursday isl - Merauke)
- Convoy VB.42 (Jun 1943: Townsville - Brisbane)
- Convoy BV.71 (Jun 1943: Caloundra - Townsville)
- Convoy TN.112 (Jul 1943: Townsville - Pt Moresby)
- Convoy FT.5 (Jul 1943: Fall river - Townsville)
- Convoy LQ.3 (Jul 1943: Gladstone - Caloundra)
- Convoy PG.65 (Aug 1943: Caloundra - Sydney nsw)
- Convoy CO.124 (Sep 1943: Newcastle NSW - Melbourne)
- Convoy PV.2 (Sep 1943: Melbourne - Townsville)
- Convoy QL.25 (Oct 1943: Caloundra - Townsville)
- Convoy TN.164 (Oct 1943: Townsville - Milne Bay)
- Convoy FO.12 (Oct 1943: Milne bay - Oro Bay)
- Convoy FT.34 (Oct 1943: Fall River - Townsville)
- Convoy LQ.23 (Oct 1943: Gladstone - Brisbane)
- Convoy TN.182 (Nov 1943: Townsville - Milne Bay)
- Convoy MV.47 (Dec 1943: Milne Bay - Townsville)
- Convoy TN.197 (Dec 1943: Townsville - Milne Bay)
- Convoy BG.7 (Dec 1943: Milne Bay - Finschaffen)
1944
- Convoy QL.47 (Jan 1944: Caloundra - Townsville)
- Convoy TN.210 (Jan 1944: Townsville - Milne Bay)
- Convoy MV.54 (Jan 1944: Milne bay - Townsville)
- Convoy QL.55 (Feb 1944: Caloundra - Townsville)
- Convoy TN.219 (Feb 1944: Townsville - Milne Bay)
- Convoy BG.44 (Feb 1944: Buna - Langenak Bay)
- Convoy BG.71 (Mar 1944: Buna - Langemak Bay)
- Convoy GB.47 (Mar 1944: Langemak bay - Milne Bay)
- Convoy GB.746 (Apr 1945: Morotai - Hollandia)
- Convoy GB.760 (May 1945: Morotai - Hollandia)
- Convoy BG.2/1 (Jul 1944: Langemak Bay - Humboldt)
- Convoy BG.7 (Dec 1943: Milne bay - Finschaffen)
1945
- Convoy BG.525 (Apr 1945: Biak - Morotai
- Convoy GB.746 (Apr 1945: Morotai - Hollandia)
- Convoy GB.760 (May 1945: Morotai - Hollandia))
- Convoy BG.537 (May 1945: Biak - Morotai)
- Convoy PH.4/1 (Jan 1945: Leyte - Humboldt)
SS Both also made another 121 independent voyages between Australian ports and New Guinea / Pacific Islands ports.
On April 16th 1958, the Dutch steamer Both, built in 1931, was damaged and unable to proceed at Padang, and thus could not escape to Singapore and was lost at Padang during Indonesian hostilities.