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RMS Durham Castle

Field	Value
section1	{{Infobox ship/image
image	StateLibQld 1 141491 Durham Castle (ship).jpg
image_caption	Durham Castle in Australian waters prior to being requisitioned by the Royal Navy
section2	{{Infobox ship/career
country	United Kingdom
flag
name	RMS Durham Castle
owner	*[[File:Union-Castle Line house flag.svg	border	20px]] Union-Castle Mail Steamship Company, London (1904-1939)
namesake	Durham Castle
builder	Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Govan
launched	17 December 1903
commissioned	1939
identification	*UK official number 118387
*Call sign VNRH <ref name	BSR
fate	Sunk by a mine on 26 January 1940
section3	{{Infobox ship/characteristics
type	Passenger ship
tonnage	8,217 gross register tons
length	475.4 ft
beam	56.7 ft
draught	31.6 ft
propulsion	Twin screw
speed	14 knots

Royal Navy (1939-1940)
Call sign VNRH

'*RMS *Durham Castle''''' was a passenger ship built for the Union-Castle Mail Steamship Company in 1904. In 1939, the Admiralty requisitioned her for use as a store ship. She sank on 26 January 1940 after hitting a mine probably laid by the .

Construction and service

A model of the ship at the [[South African Maritime Museum

Built by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Govan, Durham Castle was launched on 17 December 1903, as the sister ship of . She served the Cape of Good Hope to Mombasa service from 1910, and continued in commercial service during the First World War, with occasional troopship duties. She was part of a convoy sailing up the English Channel in June 1918, in company with the Union-Castle and escorted by the cruiser and five destroyers. On 4 June HMS Kent was leaving the convoy, but owing to a misunderstanding, cut across Kenilworth Castles bows. Turning to avoid Kent, Kenilworth Castle instead collided with the destroyer , and sustained severe damage and several casualties.

Durham Castle sailed on the East African route from 1931, travelling via the Suez Canal, and was withdrawn from service in 1939 after being replaced by RMS Pretoria Castle. The Admiralty acquired her after the outbreak of the Second World War for use as a storeship. She was taken in tow, bound for Scapa Flow as a base accommodation ship, but on 26 January 1940 she struck a mine off Cromarty and sank. The mine was probably one that had been laid by U-57.

References

Ships of the Union-Castle Line at red-duster.co.uk

References

"''Durham Castle''". Caledonian Maritime Research Trust.
"''Durham Castle''".
"Lloyd's Register 1934-35". plimsollshipdata.
Warlow, Ben. (2000). "Shore Establishments of the Royal Navy". Maritime Books.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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