SS India (1896)
Registration Number: 105572
The India ( II ) was a 1896 put into service passenger ship in the British shipping company Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company ( P & O ), which was constructed for the carriage of passengers, mail and cargo in a regular scheduled services from the UK to India and the Far East. Along with her sister ships she was one of the most modern and luxurious ships of the shipping company. In World War I it served as an armed merchant cruiser until it was sunk on August 8, 1915 off the Norwegian coast by a German submarine.
The ship
The 7,911 -ton steamship India was at the shipyard Caird & Company in the Scottish port of Greenock. She was the first of five sister ships, which were put into service 1896-1900. The others were China (1896 ), the Egypt (1897 ), the Arabia ( 1898) and Persia ( 1900). These steamers were among the most advanced of its time and set new standards.
At the time of their entry into the India was the largest ship of its shipping company. She was launched on April 15, 1896 from the pile and was completed on September 3, 1896. Godmother when launching was Mary Anne Kendall, the daughter of a director of the shipping company. The passenger and cargo steamer was 152.37 meters long, 16.55 meters wide and had a maximum draft of 8.15 meters. The India was driven by a three-cylinder triple expansion steam engine that ran on a propeller and could afford to 11,000 PSI. The ship was a top speed of 18 knots ( 33.3 km / h ), which was a very high speed in his time. She had two masts and two funnels. The plane was carrying 317 passengers capacity for 152 passengers of the First and the Second Class.
On August 20 1900, India was the first P & O ship in the new port of Fremantle (Australia) import. In 1903 she hit the passenger steamer Frederick the Great from the North German Lloyd for the ride from the Red Sea to Australia by 24 hours. After war broke out in 1914, the India left the commercial passenger traffic at P & O. She brought among others Admiral Doveton Sturdee Frederick after the naval battle in the Falkland Islands from Gibraltar to home.
Auxiliary cruiser in World War I
On March 13, 1915, the steamer was requisitioned as an auxiliary cruiser by the British Admiralty. It was the 10th Cruiser Squadron (10th Kreuzerschwadron ) of the Royal Navy assigned whose job it was to form a blockage in the waters between Iceland and the north of Scotland. Also, the P & O steamer Moldavia was integrated into the 10th Cruiser Squadron. The India was provided with a capacity for 2,500 troops.
Sinking
On Sunday, August 8, 1915, India at the island Helligvær before it is situated on the northern coast of Norway port of Bodø was torpedoed by the German submarine U 22 ( Lieutenant Bruno Hoppe). The commander of India at this time was William GA Kennedy. She had stopped to inspect a possible blockade runner. The ship sank on the position 67.30N/13.20E with the loss of ten officers and 160 soldiers. The surviving 22 officers and 119 soldiers were brought from the steamer Gotland and the Saxon to Narvik.