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RAJPUTANA (1925)
Service dates: 1925-1941
Official number: 149361
Shipping lines: P&O STEAM NAVIGATION COMPANY
Ship type:
Passenger Liner.
Career
- 07.08.1925
- Launched.
- 30.12.1925
- Ran trials and delivered as Rajputana for The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company at a cost of £970,083. Her delivery completed the four-strong ‘R’ class for the London/Bombay mail service; when this ceased she switched to the Japan run.
- 01.1929
- Aircraftman T E Shaw, RAF - Lawrence of Arabia - travelled from India to England.
- 22.04.1931
- She rescued 112 passengers and crew from the Chinese steamer Hwahyang, which had been wrecked on Saddle Island between Shanghai and Hong Kong on the previous day and was reportedly under attack by pirates.
- 29.08.1931
- Mahatma Gandhi sailed from Bombay to Marseilles (arriving 11th September and continuing overland) en route to London for the Round Table Conference.
- 12.1931/01.1932
- Carried David Lloyd George from Ceylon to Plymouth while he was on a roundtrip ‘health voyage’ following surgery earlier that year. He was reported to enjoy a few games of deck quoits daily.
- 07.1937
- One of six liners involved in the evacuation of Britain nationals from Woosung to Hong Kong during the Sino-Japanese War.
- 04.09.1939
- Requisitioned at Yokohama by the Admiralty for service as an armed merchant cruiser and converted at Esquimault, British Columbia. Her after funnel was removed and eight 6-inch and two 3-inch guns were fitted. Served on convoy escort in the North Atlantic, escorting 700 ships without loss.
- 04.1941
- Transferred to Denmark Strait patrol duties.
- 13.04.1941
- Torpedoed at about 0600hrs by the German submarine U108, 250km (150 miles) south of Iceland in position 64°50’N-27°25’W. The submarine was sighted and Rajputana opened fire, but was hit a second time at 0730hrs and abandoned at 0840hrs. Six officers and 35 ratings were lost; after sighting by a Sunderland flying-boat, most of the 283 survivors were picked up by destroyers and landed at Reykjavik, though 12 officers and 22 ratings stayed adrift for longer before being rescued and landed in Canada.