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MARMORA (1903)

Service dates: 1903-1918

Official number: 116011

Shipping lines: P&O STEAM NAVIGATION COMPANY

Ship type:


Passenger Liner.


Career

09.04.1903
Launched.
20.11.1903
Delivered as Marmora for The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company at a cost of £344,084. Third of the celebrated ‘M’ class. Named after the Sea of Marmora (otherwise Marmara) between the Black Sea and the Aegean. She was the first P&O ship fitted with quadruple-expansion steam engines.
n.d.
Maiden voyage London/Bombay.
n.d.
First voyage on the London/Australia run.
1908
Carried the Princess Royal, the Duke of Fife and their family to Egypt.
03.08.1914
Hired by the Admiralty for service as an armed merchant cruiser. Attached to the Cape Verde division of the Tenth Cruiser Squadron.
1915
With HMS Highflyer and the armed merchant cruiser HMS Empress of Britain unsuccessfully searched the West African coast for the German auxiliary cruiser Kronprinz Wilhelm.
11.1916
Compulsorily purchased by the Admiralty, but the Company successfully contested its right to do so.
02.1917
Ownership restored to The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, though this made no difference to her employment.
23.07.1918
Torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine UB64 in position 50°24’N-08°48’W, off the south coast of Ireland. She was on a voyage from Cardiff to Dakar, Senegal, on Admiralty service. 10 crew were lost.


Ship technical details (PDF)