SS Armadale Castle

Registration Number: 118350

The RMS Armadale Castle ( II) was put into operation in 1903 a passenger ship which was used by the British shipping company Union - Castle Line passenger and mail service between Britain and South Africa. She served in World War I as an auxiliary cruiser and was scrapped in 1936 in northern England.

The ship

The 12,973 -ton steamship Armadale Castle was built at the shipyard Fairfield Shipbuilders in Govan in Glasgow. Your identical sister ship was the Kenilworth Castle ( 12,974 GRT), which was simultaneously built at Harland & Wolff in Belfast and put into service in 1904. These two ships were the first new orders, after in 1900 the shipowners Union Steamship Company Ltd.. ( Union Line, founded 1857) and Castle Mail Packet Company Ltd.. ( Castle Line, founded in 1862 ) were merged and the new Union - Castle Line formed. They were the largest ever ships of the two original lines.

The 173.76 meters long and 19.6 meters wide RMS Armadale Castle had two chimneys, two masts and two propellers. It was powered by two quadruple expansion steam engines, which contributed 12,000 PSi and enabled a top speed of 17 knots. She was launched on August 11, 1903 at Fairfield Shipbuilders from the stack and was completed in November 1903. On December 5, 1903, the ship sank on its maiden voyage and on the passenger and mail service of the Union - Castle Line between Southampton and Cape Town.

In August 1914, the Armadale Castle was taken over by the British Admiralty and converted into an auxiliary cruiser ( Armed Merchant Cruiser). 1914 and 1915, she supported the occupation of the colony of German South-West Africa. She later served in the 10th Cruiser Squadron ( tenth Kreuzerschwadron ) in the North Sea. In 1919, she was handed back to her owners and was re- used on the regular passenger and mail service of the Union - Castle Line. 1934, the accommodation of the Second Class were dismantled. 1935, the ship was launched in Netley Abbey. 1936 undertook the Armadale Castle yet another crossing to South Africa, but was later scrapped at the Hughes Bolckow Shipbreaking Company in Blyth.