RMS Corfu
{{other uses|Corfu (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2017}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image =RMS Corfu SLV Green.jpg |Ship caption =SS Corfu in June 1932 }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header = |Ship name =*RMS Corfu
|Ship owner = P&O 1931-1961 |Ship operator= |Ship registry = London {{flagicon|United Kingdom|civil}} |Ship route = London, Bombay, China |Ship ordered = 25 June 1930 |Ship builder =*Alexander Stephen and Sons,
|Ship original cost = |Ship yard number = 534 |Ship way number = |Ship laid down = 9 September 1930 |Ship launched = 20 May 1931 |Ship completed = |Ship christened = |Ship trials = 24 September 1931 |Ship acquired = |Ship maiden voyage = 16 October 1931 |Ship in service = |Ship out of service = |Ship fate = Scrapped 17 October 1961 by Miyachi Salvage Co Ltd, at Osaka, Japan. |Ship notes = }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header = |Header caption = |Ship class = |Ship tonnage = 14,293 (GRT) |Ship displacement = |Ship length = 543ft |Ship beam = 71ft 5in |Ship height = |Ship draught = 29ft 9in |Ship draft = |Ship depth = |Ship decks = |Ship ice class = |Ship sail plan = |Ship power = Six steam boilers, two turbines |Ship propulsion = Twin propellers |Ship speed = 18 knots |Ship capacity =*177 First Class
|Ship crew = |Ship notes = Originally proposed name Chefoo }} |
RMS Corfu was a Royal Mail Ship and ocean liner operated by the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. Known as one of the 'Far East Sisters', she was launched in 1931 to serve the company's India and Far East Mail Service, along with her sister ship, the RMS Carthage. Both ships were built by Alexander Stephen & Sons Ltd in Glasgow, Scotland and served from 1931 until 1961 when they were scrapped in Japan.{{Cite web |title=poships.co.uk |url=http://www.poships.co.uk/thefareastpair.html |access-date=2024-09-05 |website=poships.co.uk}}{{cite web |title=RMS Corfu |url=http://www.clydeships.co.uk/view.php?ref=17160 |website=Clydeships |accessdate=6 November 2019}}
World War II
File:HMS Corfu 1943 IWM A 16365.jpg
In September 1939 Corfu was requisitioned by the British Admiralty and armed with eight 6-inch guns as part of her conversion to an armed merchant cruiser. She served as in this role as HMS Corfu until February 1944, and as a troop transport from then until the end of World War II. On 10 July 1940 she collided with {{HMS|Hermes|95|6}} in the Atlantic Ocean and was damaged and abandoned. She was reboarded later in the day and subsequently taken in tow by {{HMS|Milford|L51|6}} and the Dutch tug {{ship|ST|Donau||2}} and reached Freetown, Sierra Leone on 13 July. She was beached on 19 August for repairs to her bow and re-entered service in early 1941.{{cite web |url=http://www.naval-history.net/xDKWW2-4007-20JUL01.htm |title=Naval Events, July 1940, Part 1 of 2, Monday 1st- Sunday 14th |publisher=Naval History |accessdate=23 November 2011}}
On 7 October 1945 Corfu docked at Southampton carrying the first 1,500 British prisoners of war to return from Japanese camps in the Far East.
In 1947 she was returned to her owners.
She operated from Tilbury to Sydney as P&O Corfu in the 1950s
References
{{Reflist}}
Bibliography
- {{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Andrew |title=Question 22/79 |journal=Warship International |date=1983 |volume=XX |issue=4 |pages=428–429 |issn=0043-0374}}
External links
{{Commons category|Corfu (ship, 1931)}}
{{July 1940 shipwrecks}}
{{August 1940 shipwrecks}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Corfu}}
Category:Passenger ships of the United Kingdom
Category:Maritime incidents in July 1940
Category:Maritime incidents in August 1940
Category:World War II Auxiliary cruisers of the Royal Navy
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