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KARMALA (1914)
Service dates: 1914-1932
Official number: 135590
Shipping lines: P&O STEAM NAVIGATION COMPANY
Ship type:
Passenger/Cargo Ship.
Career
- 14.03.1914
- Launched.
- 22.06.1914
- Ran trials and delivered as Karmala for The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company at a cost of £196,274. She was third of the 6-strong ‘K’ class to be delivered. Karmala is a town in Maharashtra State, India.
- 16.11.1914
- Left Bombay as headquarters ship of the India Expeditionary Force for the capture of Tanga in German East Africa.
- 1915
- Returned to commercial service.
- 03.1917
- Attacked by a submarine in the Mediterranean. A torpedo missed, and the vessel was beaten off in a gun duel. Later requisitioned for transport duties, mostly on the North Atlantic carrying foodstuffs east and sailing west in ballast.
- 1918
- Carried US troops, then reverted to the Indian service. Narrowly missed by a torpedo off northwest Ireland.
- 1918/1919
- Repatriated Australian troops before going back on the India and Far East services.
- 16.01.1924
- Fire in the Engineroom stairs put out after two houses, but the storekeeper died in the fire. A Company document suggests he might have been smuggling firearms.
- 1927
- Transport service during troubles in China, carrying troops and armoured cars for the Shanghai Defence Force.
- 04.1932
- Sold for £14,100 to Amakaru Gomei Kaisha, Japan for demolition.
- 30.06.1932
- Delivered at Yokohama.