SS Kosciusko
From Our Contribution
 HMT Czaritza | |
 SS Kosciusko | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | HMT Czaritza |
| Owner | Russian East Asiatic S.S. Co. Ltd., Libau |
| Builder | Barclay, Curie & Co Ltd |
| Yard number | 512 |
| Launched | 14 Feb 1915 |
| Completed | 1915 |
| In service | 1915 |
| Out of service | 1950 |
| Fate | broken up at Blyth on 2 May 1950 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Passenger / cargo |
| Tonnage | 6,852 tons |
| Length | 440.0 ft (134.11m) |
| Beam | 53.4 ft (16.26m) |
| Depth | 29.3 ft (8.92m) |
| Propulsion | twin screw |
| Speed | 13 knots (24.08 km/h) |
Contents
Remarks
Ordered by the Russian American Line prior to the outbreak of World War I and intended to serve as an ocean liner under the name SS Czaritza or SS Tsarina, operating with up to 1000 passengers between New York and Arkhangelsk. When finally placed in peacetime service post WW1 it carried 712 passengers.
Launched in 1915 by Barclay, Curle & Co. Ltd., Glasgow, as SS Czaritza she was evacuated from Russia during the Russian Civil War. she was initially hired, but later bought by Cunard Line in 1917 and used as a troop transport between USA and Europe and between Great Britain and Malta. In September 1920 she was returned to civilian ownership (Danish East Asiatic Company, Copenhagen), and in 1921 renamed as SS Lituania operating on the Baltic - America route. Sold in 1930 to the Polish Transatlantic Spg Co Ltd, who renamed her SS Kosciusko to operate on the Poland, Canada route before being passed to Gdynia-America Spg Lines Ltd, Gdynia during 1934. Deemed obsolete in early 1939 she was withdrawn from Service.
At the outbreak of WW2, now known as SS Gdynia, she was used from November 1939 as a depot ship in Devonport for the Polish navy, returning On 30 June 1941 she returned to the Polish merchant marine under her old name. Chartered to the British Lamport and Holt Line, she served as a troop transport in the Indian Ocean and Malaya. She was attacked by Japanese aircraft several times and in 1943 was hit by a torpedo, which did not explode. She had been fitted out with 4 x 20mm Oerliken anti-aircraft guns. Withdrawn to the Mediterranean, she took part in the Allied Invasion of Sicily. Then she returned to the Indian Ocean, this time as a part of United Maritime Authority.
In April 1946 she was sold to the Liverpool-based Lamport and Holt Line, renamed to 'SS Empire Helfod and continued to serve as a troop transport and for transportation of displaced persons. In 1949 she was withdrawn from service and was scrapped in 1950.
Soldiers carried
England to Alexandria 16 March - 7 May 1919
- Arthur James Allen
- Jesse Thomas Manser Only as far as Alexandria
Bombay, India to Adelaide 11 February to 23 March 1942
- Eric Anderson
- Len Malarkey
- Edwin Reed Marshall
- Stanton Edward McKenna
- † Jack North
- John William Pryor
- Donald Roberts Scott
- James Henry Ambrose Willis
Disembarked in Fremantle 18 Mar 1942 and charged with AWOL when the boat left without them.