WINCHESTER
CASTLE (1) was built in 1930 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast
with a tonnage of 20109grt, a length of 631ft 6in, a beam of
75ft 5in and a service speed of 20 knots. She sailed on her
maiden mail run on 11th October 1930. In 1936 one round voyage
was lost when, after stranding near to Portland, the Armadale
Castle was brought in to replace her. She was the last ship
to be modernised in 1938 to meet the new mail contract requirements
and, like the Carnarvon Castle, had a large single raked funnel
fitted. In 1941 she made one trooping voyage to Bombay and then
became the HQ ship for Admiral Mountbatten's Combined Operations
spending a year in Scottish waters training men. During this
time she was always on 7 days standby for a possible invasion
of Grand Canary Island. On 23rd March she became the HQ ship
in Operation Ironclad, the invasion of Vichy held Madagasgar.
Accompanied by the troopships Keren, Karanja, Llandaff Castle
and Sobieski
she was escorted by the battleship HMS Ramilles and undertook
a successful assault at Diego Suarez on May 4th and 5th. During
a trooping voyage from the USA to the UK, on 22nd July 1942
she picked up the crew of the US cargo ship Honolulan which
had been torpedoed by U-583. She was back in Loch Fyne by the
September and on 6th November took part in the North African
landings at Sidi Ferruch, Algiers. On 9th September 1943, with
the Durban Castle, she took part in Operation Avalanche when
Lt-General Mc Creery's 56th Division, British X Corps were landed
between Paestum and Maiori, either side of Salerno and on 15th
August 1944 participated in Operation Dragoon when her troops
were landed near Cannes during the invasion of southern France.
During 1947-48 she was deployed on the UK-South Africa emigrant
service with 877 berths. Refurbished in 1948 she resumed her
mail runs on 22nd September and continued until 1960 when she
was replaced by the Windsor Castle. Sold for £315,000
she arrived at Mihara in Japan on 5th November to be broken
up by Nichimen K.K. (Photos: UCPSC? & CMW Edwards)
WARWICK
CASTLE (3) was built in 1930 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast
with a tonnage of 20445grt, a length of 651ft 5in, a beam of
75ft 5in and a service speed of 20 knots. Like her sister, the
Winchester Castle, she was similarly modified in 1938 to meet
the conditions of the new mail contract. In September 1939 she
was taken over by the government for trooping duties. In November
1942 she was part of the KMF 1 (UK-Mediterranean Fast) assault
force for Operation Torch, the North African landings. She landed
her troops on 10th November and, empty, joined convoy MKF 1
for the return voyage home. On 12th November at 08.50 hrs, when
north of Gibraltar off the Portuguese coast, she was torpedoed
by U-413 and sank 1hr.25mins later. The U-Boat had waited under
the convoy and targeted the rearmost troopship. (Photo: Raphael
Tuck postcard)
ROSLIN
CASTLE (3) was built in 1935 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast
with a tonnage of 7016grt, a length of 443ft 6in, a beam of
61ft 4in and a service speed of 14 knots. Launched on 20th December
1934 she was given a lavender hull instead of the usual black
for a cargo ship. She was completely refrigerated and designed
to carry different typed of South African produce in different
compartments. Although, with her sister the Rothesay Castle,
she was often laid up in the River Blackwater between fruit
seasons she was still profitable. In 1967, the oldest ship in
the British & Commonwealth fleet, she was sold for breaking
up and arrived in Kaohsuing in Taiwan on 3rd December of that
year. (Photo: CMW Edwards)
ROTHESAY
CASTLE (1) was built in 1935 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast
with a tonnage of 7016grt, a length of 443ft 6in, a beam of
61ft 4in and a service speed of 14 knots. Sister of the Roslin
Castle she ended her career on 4th January 1940 when she went
aground at Sanaig Point on the Isle of Islay during a voyage
from New York to Glasgow and became a total loss. (Photo: A
Duncan)
STIRLING CASTLE (2) was built in 1936 by Harland & Wolff
at Belfast with a tonnage of 25550grt, a length of 696ft, a
beam of 82ft 5in and a service speed of 20 knots. She was launched
on 15th July 1935 by Mrs Robertson Gibb, wife of the Chairman,
and sailed on her maiden voyage on 7th February 1936. She completed
her first voyage in the scheduled time of 16 days 15 hrs but,
capable of 21 knots if required, did the run in 13 days 9hrs
in the following August and beat the record established by Union's
Scot in 1893. In 1940 she was requisitioned for troopship duties
capable of carrying 6000 persons eating and sleeping in two
sessions, a capacity which was occasionally reached. In 1941
she was kept on 7 day standby, as part of a 12,000 strong force,
in case it became necessary to occupy the Azores and/or the
Canary Islands and in 1943 carried troops from the US to the
UK as part of Operation Bolero in readiness for the D-Day landings.
Her virtually trouble free war service ended in 1945 having
steamed over 500,000 miles and carrying 128,000 troops. She
was finally released in 1946 and underwent a refit before returning
to the mail run in 1947. In 1966 she was sold for scrap, realising
£360,000, and arrived at Mihara, Japan on 3rd March for
breaking up by Nichimen K.K.
ATHLONE
CASTLE was built in 1936 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast with
a tonnage of 25564grt, a length of 696ft, a beam of 82ft 5in
and a service speed of 20 knots. Sister of the Stirling Castle,
she was launched by the Princess Alice, wife of the Earl of
Athlone, a former Governor General of South Africa, on 28th
November 1935. On 5th November 1937 she was the first mail ship
to call at Buffalo Harbour at East London and on 22nd December
1938 inaugurated the 14 days or under 'Accelerated' schedule
as stipulated in the 1936 mail contract. In 1940 she was the
commodore ship of a Union-Castle convoy made up of the Arundel
Castle, the Windsor Castle, the Winchester Castle, the Durban
Castle and the Capetown Castle to carry South African troops
to Suez following the outbreak of fighting in North Africa.
During 1943, together with her sister, she trooped between the
USA and UK carrying some 150,000 troops without any serious
incident. In 1946 she underwent a refit and continued in service
until 6th August 1965 when she concluded her 141st voyage at
Southampton. Her sale had already been negotiated and ten days
later she sailed for Kaohsuing in Taiwan where she arrived on
13th September for breaking up by the China Steel Corporation.
(Photo: UCPSC 19/197)
DUNNOTTAR
CASTLE was built in 1936 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast with
a tonnage of 15002grt, a length of 560ft, a beam of 71ft 9in
and a service speed of 17 knots. She was built as an Intermediate
steamer but entered service on the mail run while the other
ships were being refurbished. On 28th August 1939 she was requisitioned
by the Admiralty for commission as an Armed Merchant Cruiser
and served with the South Atlantic patrols. When, in 1942, more
war-built trade protection cruisers entered service, she was
released and converted into a troopship carrying over 250,000
men including shuttling between Normandy and Southampton after
the D-Day landings. She returned to commercial service in 1948
and, after a refurbishment by Harland & Wolff, resumed deployment
on the clockwise Round Africa service, London-Suez-South Africa-London.
In 1958 she was, after 94 voyages, replaced by the Rhodesia
Castle and sold to Incres S.S. Co. of Monrovia and renamed Victoria.
On 16th January 1959 she was towed to Holland where she was
rebuilt and re-engined, her tonnage being reduced to 14917grt
but her length increased to 572ft, and commenced cruising in
the Mediterranean on 14th December 1959. From 1960 until 1964
she cruised between New York and the West Indies. In October
1964 she was sold to to Victoria S.S. Co. of Monrovia and a
subsidiary of the Swedish Einar Hansen's Rederi A/B Clipper,
Malmo with Incres as managers and on the same itinerary. She
was sold to the Chandris subsidiary Phaidon Navigation Co. (Chandris
Inc) London in November 1975 and transferred Greek to registry
although briefly registered as being owned by the National American
Hellenic Line with the intention of resuming a service across
the Atlantic. On 11th December 1975 she arrived in Piraeus in
tow of Moran's Heidi Moran where the engine was overhauled and
the cabins refurbished before resuming cruising on 6th June
1976 as The Victoria but under the Panamanian flag. In 1981
she was sold to Victoria Maritime S.A. of Piraeus for cruising
and without a change of name. After 64 years she is still cruising
in the Mediterranean as the Princesa Victoria under the ownership
of Louis Cruise Lines of Cyprus. (Photo: UCPSC 07/147)
DUNVEGAN
CASTLE (2) was built in 1936 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast
with a tonnage of 15007grt, a length of 560ft, a beam of 71ft
9in and a service speed of 17 knots. Sister of the Dunnottar
Castle she was initially deployed on the mail run while other
ships were being rebuilt. In September 1939 she was requisitioned
by the Admiralty and converted into an Armed Merchant Merchant
cruiser. On 27th August 1940 at 21.47 hrs she was torpedoed
by U-46 off western Ireland while escorting a convoy to Freetown
with the loss of 27 lives. She sank early on the following morning
and the 250 survivors were taken to Scotland. (Photo: UCPSC
04/151)
WALMER
CASTLE (3) was built in 1936 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast
with a tonnage of 906grt, a length of 236ft 2in, a beam of 39ft
4in and a service speed of 10 knots. She was delivered on 30th
November 1936 to replace the Eider on the Southampton - Bremen
- Hamburg feeder service. In 1940 she was requisitioned for
use as an armed supply ship based at Scapa Flow and in June
1941 was converted into a convoy rescue ship. She became operational
on 12th September 1941, replacing the Hontestroom which had
unsatisfactory accommodation. On 19th September she began her
first tour of duty with OG 75 and rescued 23 crew members of
the City of Waterford. On the following day she rescued 30 seamen
from the Empire Moat and 28 from the Baltallin. During the next
day, 21st September, and well astern of the convoy, she was
attacked out of the sun by a Focke Wulf Kondor of I/KG 40 from
Bordeaux, some 700 miles west of Ushant. She managed to dodge
two bombs but a third scored a direct hit killing the captain,
10 of the crew and 2 of the rescued seamen. The remaining 12
crew members and 52 rescued survivors were picked up by HMS
Marigold and HMS Deptford and the derelict hulk was sunk by
gunfire. The Focke Wulf was later shot down by aircraft from
the escort carrier. Convoy OG 75 was attacked by a wolf-pack
and lost nine ships despite the fact that the very first escort
carrier, HMS Audacity, was present. It later transpired that
at the beginning of September 1941 the German command changed
its grid references code but it took British de-coders several
days to break the code. The presence of a wolf-pack was predicted
but the exact location and time of attack could not be established
in time. (Photo: The late P.A. Vicary)
ROCHESTER
CASTLE was built in 1937 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast with
a tonnage of 7795grt, a length of 474ft 2in, a beam of 63ft
4in and a service speed of 15 knots although she attained 19
knots during trials. Delivered on 29th April 1937 she was the
first of a class of four ships which were slightly larger than
the earlier 'R' class. She made her maiden voyage to Port Natal
on 12th May and was subsequently deployed on the South Africa
- UK refrigerated fruit run. In 1940 she was placed on a war
footing and on 10th August 1942 participated in Operation Pedestal,
the most critical of the Malta convoys. Fifteen ships including
the tanker Ohio sailed from Gibraltar with vital supplies for
Malta escorted by a battlefleet consisting of two battleships,
four aircraft carriers, seven cruisers and thirty destroyers.
After three days and after being continually attacked by the
Axis forces only the Rochester Castle, Blue Star's Brisbane
Star and Melbourne Star, Port Line's Port Chalmers and the badly
damaged tanker Ohio reached Valetta on 13th August. On the approach
to Malta the Rochester Castle was hit in No.3 hold by two torpedoes
launched from German E-boats but she managed to reach port,
the first vessel to do so. Because of her damage she was forced
to remain in Malta until the following December when temporary
repairs enabled her to make the dash for Alexandria and thence
to New York via Cape Town where permanent repairs were made.
In June 1942, duly repaired, she arrived back in Liverpool with
a cargo of frozen meat from Buenos Aires. She was sold to Castle
Shipping Corp. of Cyprus in 1970 and renamed Glenda for her
final voyage to Whampoa where, on 13th November 1970, she was
the last of the six 'R's to be broken up. (Photo: MNW Edwards)
ROXBURGH CASTLE (1) was built in 1937
by Harland & Wolff at Belfast with a tonnage of 7801grt,
a length of 474ft 2in, a beam of 63ft 4in and a service speed
of 15 knots. Sister of the Rochester Castle she was delivered
on 26th June 1937 for the soft fruit trade. On 21/22 December
1940 she was damaged by bombs during a night attack on Liverpool
as was the Llangibby Castle. In the following year, on 4th May,
she was again damaged by bombs during an air raid on Liverpool.
On 22nd February 1943 she was torpedoed by U-107 off Ferraria
Point in the Azores in position 38.12N 26.22W whilst sailing
independently of any convoy which ships of with this speed capability
frequently did.
RICHMOND
CASTLE (1) was built in 1939 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast
with a tonnage of 7798grt, a length of 457ft 2in, a beam of
63ft 4in and a service speed of 15 knots. Sister of the Rochester
Castle she was delivered on 11th February 1939 for the South
Africa - UK fruit refrigerated fruit service. On 4th August
1942 she was torpedoed by U-176 in the North Atlantic, position
50.25N 35.05W.
ROWALLAN CASTLE (1) was built in 1939 by Harland & Wolff
at Belfast with a tonnage of 7798grt, a length of 474ft 2in,
a beam of 63ft 4in and a service speed of 15 knots. When she
was delivered on 11th March 1939 Harland & Wolff recorded
a loss of £30,000 on the building of the last two vessels
of the class. On 14th February 1942, while participating in
convoy MW 9B from Alexandria to Malta, she was bombed by German
aircraft and reduced to a hulk. She was taken in tow by the
destroyer HMS Zulu but as she was clearly settling in the water
Admiral Cunningham ordered her to be sunk. (Photo: C.H. Solomons)
DURBAN
CASTLE was built in 1938 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast with
a tonnage of 17382grt, a length of 594ft 7in, a beam of 76ft
4in and a service speed of 18.5 knots. She was built for the
Round Africa service and inaugurated the practice of naming
ships after non-existent South African castles. In September
1939 she was converted into a troopship. When Greece fell in
1941 the King of Greece and his family first took refuge in
Egypt and then South Africa from where the Durban Castle transported
him, his family and entourage from Durban to the United Kingdom.
In 1942 she was converted into a Landing Ship Infantry with
nine landing craft on each side and on 6th November took part
in the North African landings at Arzue. During July 1943 she
landed the 41st Marine Commando on Sicily and later landed troops
at Salerno and Anzio. On 15th August 1944 she landed troops
near Cannes during the invasion of southern France. She returned
to commercial service in 1946 still carrying her AA gun platforms
and with 9 lifeboats on each side replacing the landing craft.
This austere situation was rectified when she was later re-furbished.
In July 1947 she resumed service, initially on the mail service
pending the return of the larger ships which were themselves
being refurbished after war service, and then on the Round Africa
service. In October 1947 she made the news headlines when a
glamorous young actress, Gay Gibson, was murdered during a voyage
from South Africa to England. She was reported as being missing
from her cabin and a search of the ship failed to find her.
Then a steward reported that he had seen one of his colleagues
in Gay's cabin late on the night of her disappearance and his
story led to an amazing trial at Winchester Assizes. Without
a body in the case, the accused, a steward named James Camb,
had a good chance that his story that Gay died from natural
causes while he made love to her would be believed. Camb said
that he panicked and pushed her body out of the port hole but
the court decided otherwise and he was convicted of her murder.
On 28th March 1962 she completed her final voyage in London
and in the following month was sold to Eisen & Metall GmbH
of Hamburg for breaking up. (Photo: UCPSC 19/195)
PRETORIA
CASTLE (1)/WARWICK CASTLE (4) was built in 1938 by Harland &
Wolff at Belfast with a tonnage of 17383grt, a length of 594ft
7in, a beam of 76ft 4in and a service speed of 18.5 knots. Sister
of the Durban Castle she commenced her maiden voyage as the
Pretoria Castle on the 20th April 1939. During her second voyage
she damaged her rudder when she grounded in Delagoa Bay necessitating
repairs at Prince Edward Dock, Durban. On completion of that
voyage she was requisitioned for use as an Armed Merchant Cruiser
being fitted with eight 6 inch guns together with AA and machine
guns.
With a black hull and buff upper works and funnel she was commissioned
in the November and based at Freetown in Sierra Leone. In 1942
she was replaced by one of the new light cruisers and sold to
the Admiralty for conversion into an aircraft carrier. With
fifteen aircraft and equipped with one catapult she was commissioned
on 18th March 1943 but was used purely for training purposes.
She was re-purchased by Union-Castle in January 1946 and rebuilt
to her original specification but, because a new mail ship was
under construction with Pretoria Castle as her designated name,
she was renamed Warwick Castle. Resuming commercial on 13th
March 1947 she initially served on the mail run until the new
mail ships joined the fleet and then reverted to the Round Africa
service in 1950. On 26th July 1962 she arrived at Barcelona
where she was scrapped.
(Photos: Imperial War Museum & Raphael Tuck)
WINCHESTER
CASTLE (1) was built in 1930 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast
with a tonnage of 20109grt, a length of 631ft 6in, a beam of
75ft 5in and a service speed of 20 knots. She sailed on her
maiden mail run on 11th October 1930. In 1936 one round voyage
was lost when, after stranding near to Portland, the Armadale
Castle was brought in to replace her. She was the last ship
to be modernised in 1938 to meet the new mail contract requirements
and, like the Carnarvon Castle, had a large single raked funnel
fitted. In 1941 she made one trooping voyage to Bombay and then
became the HQ ship for Admiral Mountbatten's Combined Operations
spending a year in Scottish waters training men. During this
time she was always on 7 days standby for a possible invasion
of Grand Canary Island. On 23rd March she became the HQ ship
in Operation Ironclad, the invasion of Vichy held Madagasgar.
Accompanied by the troopships Keren, Karanja, Llandaff Castle
and 
Sobieski
she was escorted by the battleship HMS Ramilles and undertook
a successful assault at Diego Suarez on May 4th and 5th. During
a trooping voyage from the USA to the UK, on 22nd July 1942
she picked up the crew of the US cargo ship Honolulan which
had been torpedoed by U-583. She was back in Loch Fyne by the
September and on 6th November took part in the North African
landings at Sidi Ferruch, Algiers. On 9th September 1943, with
the Durban Castle, she took part in Operation Avalanche when
Lt-General Mc Creery's 56th Division, British X Corps were landed
between Paestum and Maiori, either side of Salerno and on 15th
August 1944 participated in Operation Dragoon when her troops
were landed near Cannes during the invasion of southern France.
During 1947-48 she was deployed on the UK-South Africa emigrant
service with 877 berths. Refurbished in 1948 she resumed her
mail runs on 22nd September and continued until 1960 when she
was replaced by the Windsor Castle. Sold for £315,000
she arrived at Mihara in Japan on 5th November to be broken
up by Nichimen K.K. (Photos: UCPSC? & CMW Edwards) 
WARWICK
CASTLE (3) was built in 1930 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast
with a tonnage of 20445grt, a length of 651ft 5in, a beam of
75ft 5in and a service speed of 20 knots. Like her sister, the
Winchester Castle, she was similarly modified in 1938 to meet
the conditions of the new mail contract. In September 1939 she
was taken over by the government for trooping duties. In November
1942 she was part of the KMF 1 (UK-Mediterranean Fast) assault
force for Operation Torch, the North African landings. She landed
her troops on 10th November and, empty, joined convoy MKF 1
for the return voyage home. On 12th November at 08.50 hrs, when
north of Gibraltar off the Portuguese coast, she was torpedoed
by U-413 and sank 1hr.25mins later. The U-Boat had waited under
the convoy and targeted the rearmost troopship. (Photo: Raphael
Tuck postcard) 
ROSLIN
CASTLE (3) was built in 1935 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast
with a tonnage of 7016grt, a length of 443ft 6in, a beam of
61ft 4in and a service speed of 14 knots. Launched on 20th December
1934 she was given a lavender hull instead of the usual black
for a cargo ship. She was completely refrigerated and designed
to carry different typed of South African produce in different
compartments. Although, with her sister the Rothesay Castle,
she was often laid up in the River Blackwater between fruit
seasons she was still profitable. In 1967, the oldest ship in
the British & Commonwealth fleet, she was sold for breaking
up and arrived in Kaohsuing in Taiwan on 3rd December of that
year. (Photo: CMW Edwards) 
ROTHESAY
CASTLE (1) was built in 1935 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast
with a tonnage of 7016grt, a length of 443ft 6in, a beam of
61ft 4in and a service speed of 14 knots. Sister of the Roslin
Castle she ended her career on 4th January 1940 when she went
aground at Sanaig Point on the Isle of Islay during a voyage
from New York to Glasgow and became a total loss. (Photo: A
Duncan) 
STIRLING CASTLE (2) was built in 1936 by Harland & Wolff
at Belfast with a tonnage of 25550grt, a length of 696ft, a
beam of 82ft 5in and a service speed of 20 knots. She was launched
on 15th July 1935 by Mrs Robertson Gibb, wife of the Chairman,
and sailed on her maiden voyage on 7th February 1936. She completed
her first voyage in the scheduled time of 16 days 15 hrs but,
capable of 21 knots if required, did the run in 13 days 9hrs
in the following August and beat the record established by Union's
Scot in 1893. In 1940 she was requisitioned for troopship duties
capable of carrying 6000 persons eating and sleeping in two
sessions, a capacity which was occasionally reached. In 1941
she was kept on 7 day standby, as part of a 12,000 strong force,
in case it became necessary to occupy the Azores and/or the
Canary Islands and in 1943 carried troops from the US to the
UK as part of Operation Bolero in readiness for the D-Day landings.
Her virtually trouble free war service ended in 1945 having
steamed over 500,000 miles and carrying 128,000 troops. She
was finally released in 1946 and underwent a refit before returning
to the mail run in 1947. In 1966 she was sold for scrap, realising
£360,000, and arrived at Mihara, Japan on 3rd March for
breaking up by Nichimen K.K. 
ATHLONE
CASTLE was built in 1936 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast with
a tonnage of 25564grt, a length of 696ft, a beam of 82ft 5in
and a service speed of 20 knots. Sister of the Stirling Castle,
she was launched by the Princess Alice, wife of the Earl of
Athlone, a former Governor General of South Africa, on 28th
November 1935. On 5th November 1937 she was the first mail ship
to call at Buffalo Harbour at East London and on 22nd December
1938 inaugurated the 14 days or under 'Accelerated' schedule
as stipulated in the 1936 mail contract. In 1940 she was the
commodore ship of a Union-Castle convoy made up of the Arundel
Castle, the Windsor Castle, the Winchester Castle, the Durban
Castle and the Capetown Castle to carry South African troops
to Suez following the outbreak of fighting in North Africa.
During 1943, together with her sister, she trooped between the
USA and UK carrying some 150,000 troops without any serious
incident. In 1946 she underwent a refit and continued in service
until 6th August 1965 when she concluded her 141st voyage at
Southampton. Her sale had already been negotiated and ten days
later she sailed for Kaohsuing in Taiwan where she arrived on
13th September for breaking up by the China Steel Corporation.
(Photo: UCPSC 19/197) 
DUNNOTTAR
CASTLE was built in 1936 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast with
a tonnage of 15002grt, a length of 560ft, a beam of 71ft 9in
and a service speed of 17 knots. She was built as an Intermediate
steamer but entered service on the mail run while the other
ships were being refurbished. On 28th August 1939 she was requisitioned
by the Admiralty for commission as an Armed Merchant Cruiser
and served with the South Atlantic patrols. When, in 1942, more
war-built trade protection cruisers entered service, she was
released and converted into a troopship carrying over 250,000
men including shuttling between Normandy and Southampton after
the D-Day landings. She returned to commercial service in 1948
and, after a refurbishment by Harland & Wolff, resumed deployment
on the clockwise Round Africa service, London-Suez-South Africa-London.
In 1958 she was, after 94 voyages, replaced by the Rhodesia
Castle and sold to Incres S.S. Co. of Monrovia and renamed Victoria.
On 16th January 1959 she was towed to Holland where she was
rebuilt and re-engined, her tonnage being reduced to 14917grt
but her length increased to 572ft, and commenced cruising in
the Mediterranean on 14th December 1959. From 1960 until 1964
she cruised between New York and the West Indies. In October
1964 she was sold to to Victoria S.S. Co. of Monrovia and a
subsidiary of the Swedish Einar Hansen's Rederi A/B Clipper,
Malmo with Incres as managers and on the same itinerary. She
was sold to the Chandris subsidiary Phaidon Navigation Co. (Chandris
Inc) London in November 1975 and transferred Greek to registry
although briefly registered as being owned by the National American
Hellenic Line with the intention of resuming a service across
the Atlantic. On 11th December 1975 she arrived in Piraeus in
tow of Moran's Heidi Moran where the engine was overhauled and
the cabins refurbished before resuming cruising on 6th June
1976 as The Victoria but under the Panamanian flag. In 1981
she was sold to Victoria Maritime S.A. of Piraeus for cruising
and without a change of name. After 64 years she is still cruising
in the Mediterranean as the Princesa Victoria under the ownership
of Louis Cruise Lines of Cyprus. (Photo: UCPSC 07/147) 
DUNVEGAN
CASTLE (2) was built in 1936 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast
with a tonnage of 15007grt, a length of 560ft, a beam of 71ft
9in and a service speed of 17 knots. Sister of the Dunnottar
Castle she was initially deployed on the mail run while other
ships were being rebuilt. In September 1939 she was requisitioned
by the Admiralty and converted into an Armed Merchant Merchant
cruiser. On 27th August 1940 at 21.47 hrs she was torpedoed
by U-46 off western Ireland while escorting a convoy to Freetown
with the loss of 27 lives. She sank early on the following morning
and the 250 survivors were taken to Scotland. (Photo: UCPSC
04/151) 
WALMER
CASTLE (3) was built in 1936 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast
with a tonnage of 906grt, a length of 236ft 2in, a beam of 39ft
4in and a service speed of 10 knots. She was delivered on 30th
November 1936 to replace the Eider on the Southampton - Bremen
- Hamburg feeder service. In 1940 she was requisitioned for
use as an armed supply ship based at Scapa Flow and in June
1941 was converted into a convoy rescue ship. She became operational
on 12th September 1941, replacing the Hontestroom which had
unsatisfactory accommodation. On 19th September she began her
first tour of duty with OG 75 and rescued 23 crew members of
the City of Waterford. On the following day she rescued 30 seamen
from the Empire Moat and 28 from the Baltallin. During the next
day, 21st September, and well astern of the convoy, she was
attacked out of the sun by a Focke Wulf Kondor of I/KG 40 from
Bordeaux, some 700 miles west of Ushant. She managed to dodge
two bombs but a third scored a direct hit killing the captain,
10 of the crew and 2 of the rescued seamen. The remaining 12
crew members and 52 rescued survivors were picked up by HMS
Marigold and HMS Deptford and the derelict hulk was sunk by
gunfire. The Focke Wulf was later shot down by aircraft from
the escort carrier. Convoy OG 75 was attacked by a wolf-pack
and lost nine ships despite the fact that the very first escort
carrier, HMS Audacity, was present. It later transpired that
at the beginning of September 1941 the German command changed
its grid references code but it took British de-coders several
days to break the code. The presence of a wolf-pack was predicted
but the exact location and time of attack could not be established
in time. (Photo: The late P.A. Vicary) 
ROCHESTER
CASTLE was built in 1937 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast with
a tonnage of 7795grt, a length of 474ft 2in, a beam of 63ft
4in and a service speed of 15 knots although she attained 19
knots during trials. Delivered on 29th April 1937 she was the
first of a class of four ships which were slightly larger than
the earlier 'R' class. She made her maiden voyage to Port Natal
on 12th May and was subsequently deployed on the South Africa
- UK refrigerated fruit run. In 1940 she was placed on a war
footing and on 10th August 1942 participated in Operation Pedestal,
the most critical of the Malta convoys. Fifteen ships including
the tanker Ohio sailed from Gibraltar with vital supplies for
Malta escorted by a battlefleet consisting of two battleships,
four aircraft carriers, seven cruisers and thirty destroyers.
After three days and after being continually attacked by the
Axis forces only the Rochester Castle, Blue Star's Brisbane
Star and Melbourne Star, Port Line's Port Chalmers and the badly
damaged tanker Ohio reached Valetta on 13th August. On the approach
to Malta the Rochester Castle was hit in No.3 hold by two torpedoes
launched from German E-boats but she managed to reach port,
the first vessel to do so. Because of her damage she was forced
to remain in Malta until the following December when temporary
repairs enabled her to make the dash for Alexandria and thence
to New York via Cape Town where permanent repairs were made.
In June 1942, duly repaired, she arrived back in Liverpool with
a cargo of frozen meat from Buenos Aires. She was sold to Castle
Shipping Corp. of Cyprus in 1970 and renamed Glenda for her
final voyage to Whampoa where, on 13th November 1970, she was
the last of the six 'R's to be broken up. (Photo: MNW Edwards)
RICHMOND
CASTLE (1) was built in 1939 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast
with a tonnage of 7798grt, a length of 457ft 2in, a beam of
63ft 4in and a service speed of 15 knots. Sister of the Rochester
Castle she was delivered on 11th February 1939 for the South
Africa - UK fruit refrigerated fruit service. On 4th August
1942 she was torpedoed by U-176 in the North Atlantic, position
50.25N 35.05W. 
ROWALLAN CASTLE (1) was built in 1939 by Harland & Wolff
at Belfast with a tonnage of 7798grt, a length of 474ft 2in,
a beam of 63ft 4in and a service speed of 15 knots. When she
was delivered on 11th March 1939 Harland & Wolff recorded
a loss of £30,000 on the building of the last two vessels
of the class. On 14th February 1942, while participating in
convoy MW 9B from Alexandria to Malta, she was bombed by German
aircraft and reduced to a hulk. She was taken in tow by the
destroyer HMS Zulu but as she was clearly settling in the water
Admiral Cunningham ordered her to be sunk. (Photo: C.H. Solomons)
DURBAN
CASTLE was built in 1938 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast with
a tonnage of 17382grt, a length of 594ft 7in, a beam of 76ft
4in and a service speed of 18.5 knots. She was built for the
Round Africa service and inaugurated the practice of naming
ships after non-existent South African castles. In September
1939 she was converted into a troopship. When Greece fell in
1941 the King of Greece and his family first took refuge in
Egypt and then South Africa from where the Durban Castle transported
him, his family and entourage from Durban to the United Kingdom.
In 1942 she was converted into a Landing Ship Infantry with
nine landing craft on each side and on 6th November took part
in the North African landings at Arzue. During July 1943 she
landed the 41st Marine Commando on Sicily and later landed troops
at Salerno and Anzio. On 15th August 1944 she landed troops
near Cannes during the invasion of southern France. She returned
to commercial service in 1946 still carrying her AA gun platforms
and with 9 lifeboats on each side replacing the landing craft.
This austere situation was rectified when she was later re-furbished.
In July 1947 she resumed service, initially on the mail service
pending the return of the larger ships which were themselves
being refurbished after war service, and then on the Round Africa
service. In October 1947 she made the news headlines when a
glamorous young actress, Gay Gibson, was murdered during a voyage
from South Africa to England. She was reported as being missing
from her cabin and a search of the ship failed to find her.
Then a steward reported that he had seen one of his colleagues
in Gay's cabin late on the night of her disappearance and his
story led to an amazing trial at Winchester Assizes. Without
a body in the case, the accused, a steward named James Camb,
had a good chance that his story that Gay died from natural
causes while he made love to her would be believed. Camb said
that he panicked and pushed her body out of the port hole but
the court decided otherwise and he was convicted of her murder.
On 28th March 1962 she completed her final voyage in London
and in the following month was sold to Eisen & Metall GmbH
of Hamburg for breaking up. (Photo: UCPSC 19/195) .jpg)
PRETORIA
CASTLE (1)/WARWICK CASTLE (4) was built in 1938 by Harland &
Wolff at Belfast with a tonnage of 17383grt, a length of 594ft
7in, a beam of 76ft 4in and a service speed of 18.5 knots. Sister
of the Durban Castle she commenced her maiden voyage as the
Pretoria Castle on the 20th April 1939. During her second voyage
she damaged her rudder when she grounded in Delagoa Bay necessitating
repairs at Prince Edward Dock, Durban. On completion of that
voyage she was requisitioned for use as an Armed Merchant Cruiser
being fitted with eight 6 inch guns together with AA and machine
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