SS Trent
{{short description|British Royal Mail Ship that became a Royal Navy depot ship in the First World War}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2022}}
{{About|the steamship launched in 1899|the steamship launched in 1841|RMS Trent{{!}}RMS Trent}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image= RMSTagus.jpg |Ship caption= Trent{{'}}s sister ship Tagus }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country= United Kingdom |Ship name= Trent |Ship namesake= River Trent |Ship operator= 1915: {{flagicon|United Kingdom|naval}} Royal Navy |Ship registry= {{flagicon|United Kingdom|government}} London |Ship route= |Ship ordered= |Ship builder= Robert Napier and Sons, Govan |Ship original cost= |Ship yard number= 467 |Ship laid down= |Ship launched= 19 September 1899 |Ship completed= January 1900 |Ship acquired= |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship refit= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship identification= *UK official number 112664
|Ship fate= Scrapped in 1922 |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship type= ocean liner |Ship tonnage= {{GRT|5573}}, {{NRT|3085}} |Ship length= {{cvt|410.0|ft|abbr=on}} |Ship beam= {{cvt|50.0|ft|abbr=on}} |Ship depth= {{cvt|32.3|ft|abbr=on}} |Ship draught= {{convert|23.3|ft|abbr=on}} |Ship decks= 3 |Ship power= 1,050 NHP |Ship propulsion= *1 × triple expansion engine
|Ship speed= {{convert|15|kn|km/h}} |Ship capacity= |Ship crew= |Ship sensors= submarine signalling |Ship notes= sister ship: Tagus }} |
SS Trent was a British steamship that was built in 1899 as an ocean liner for the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company (RMSP) service between England and the Caribbean. In the First World War she was a Royal Navy depot ship. She was scrapped in 1922.
This was the last of three RMSP ships that were named after the English River Trent. RMSP's first Trent was built in 1841 and scrapped in 1867. The second was built as Vasco da Gama in 1873, renamed Trent in 1878 and scrapped in 1897.
Building
In 1899 Robert Napier and Sons in Govan built a pair of sister ships for RMSP. Tagus was launched on 27 June and completed that October.{{cite web |url= https://www.clydeships.co.uk/view.php?&ref=18689 |title=Tagus |work=Scottish Built Ships |publisher=Caledonian Maritime Research Trust |access-date=1 December 2022}} Trent was launched on 19 September 1899 and completed in January 1900.{{cite web |url= https://www.clydeships.co.uk/view.php?&ref=18690 |title=Trent |work=Scottish Built Ships |publisher=Caledonian Maritime Research Trust |access-date=1 December 2022}} Trent was built as yard number 467. Her registered length was {{cvt|410.0|ft|abbr=on}}, her beam was {{cvt|50.0|ft|abbr=on}}, her depth was {{cvt|32.3|ft|abbr=on}} and her tonnages were {{GRT|5573}} and {{NRT|3085}}.{{sfn|Lloyd's Register 1900|loc=TRE}}
Trent had a single screw, driven by a three-cylinder triple expansion engine. It was rated at 1,050 NHP{{sfn|Lloyd's Register 1900|loc=TRE}} and gave her a speed of {{convert|15|kn|km/h}}.
Tagus and Trent had a straight stem, counter stern and twin funnels.{{sfn|Haws|1982|p=58}} The two ships looked like RMSP's Nile and Danube of 1893 and 1894, but were slightly smaller, and had two masts instead of Nile and Danube{{'}}s three.{{sfn|Haws|1982|p=56}}
RMSP registered Trent at London. Her UK official number was 112664 and her code letters were RMGF.{{sfn|Lloyd's Register 1900|loc=TRE}}{{sfn|Mercantile Navy List 1902|p=1902}}
Civilian liner
File:SS Trent YORYM-TA0188.jpgs aboard Trent in 1902]]
On 6 June 1909 Trent ran aground on Semedine Bank, near Cartagena, Colombia. {{RMS|Magdalena|1889|2}} tried to tow her off, but without success.{{sfn|Nicol|2001b|pp=92–93}} Trent was refloated that May.
By 1910 Trent was equipped for submarine signalling and wireless telegraphy.{{sfn|Lloyd's Register 1910|loc=TRE}} The Marconi Company supplied and operated her wireless equipment, which had a range of about {{convert|300|km|nmi|disp=flip|abbr=off}}. By 1913 her wireless call sign was UNR.{{sfn|The Marconi Press Agency Ltd|1913|p=255}}
''America'' airship crew rescue
In October 1910 Trent rescued the six-man crew of the airship America, including its owner, Walter Wellman. They had been trying to make the first transatlantic crossing by air. America had left Bader Field, New Jersey on 15 October. Changes in wind direction had slowed the airship's progress and blown it off-course, and technical problems had caused it to lose height.{{cite news |url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1910/10/19/105095840.html?pageNumber=1 |title=Wellman and crew rescued at sea, airship lost. Voyagers picked up by Trent, 400 miles off Hatteras. Leader sends story of daring trip to The Times. |newspaper=The New York Times |page=1 |date=19 October 1910 |url-access=subscription |via=Times Machine |access-date=1 December 2022}} At 0507 hrs on the morning of 18 October, America{{'}}s crew sighted Trent, which was also off her usual course. Trent{{'}}s usual route had been changed to make a one-off call at Antilla, Cuba. She left Antilla on 14 October, making her two days late to reach her next call at Bermuda. The change in both her course and her schedule was what led Trent to be in the right position at the right time to sight and rescue America{{'}}s crew.{{cite news |url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1910/10/19/105095863.html?pageNumber=4 |title=Bermuda track is lonely |newspaper=The New York Times |page=4 |date=19 October 1910 |url-access=subscription |via=Times Machine |access-date=1 December 2022}}
File:Walter Wellman's America.png seen from aboard Trent]]
America contacted Trent by signal lamp, and requested assistance. The airship crew signalled to the steamship by Morse code, and also by displaying a signal of two red lights one below the other, meaning that America was not under control.{{cite news |url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1910/10/20/102049500.html?pageNumber=5 |title=Trent brings home the rescued airmen |newspaper=The New York Times |page=5 |date=20 October 1910 |url-access=subscription |via=Times Machine |access-date=1 December 2022}} Trent changed course to reach America, which was struggling to maintain an altitude of {{cvt|300|ft}}. After establishing contact by signal lamp, America and Trent communicated almost entirely by wireless telegraph. Trent{{'}}s Master, Captain CE Down, RNR, reported that "The wireless played a wonderful part in the rescue".{{cite news |url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1910/10/19/105095843.html?pageNumber=2 |title=Sighted America at 5 A. M. |newspaper=The New York Times |page=2 |date=19 October 1910 |url-access=subscription |via=Times Machine |access-date=1 December 2022}}
America{{'}}s crew lowered a line for Trent{{'}}s crew to catch, but gusty conditions repeatedly prevented this. America drifted with the wind at about {{convert|12|mph}}, and Trent followed her for about three hours.{{cite news |url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1910/10/19/105095848.html?pageNumber=2 |title=Story of the rescue. |newspaper=The New York Times |page=2 |date=19 October 1910 |url-access=subscription |via=Times Machine |access-date=1 December 2022}} Eventually Trent{{'}}s crew succeeded in catching the line and making it fast to the steamship, but another gust broke it and America was blown away.
The airship crew then reduced America{{'}}s altitude and launched her lifeboat. The airship struck the lifeboat and nearly capsized it, but the boat righted itself and the airship floated away. The airmen rowed toward Trent, whose crew lowered lines to bring them safely aboard the steamship. Their position was now about 408 miles southeast of Sandy Hook, New Jersey.
Naval depot ship
File:SMS Konigsberg scuttled.png Delta after her crew scuttled her]]
On 6 March 1915 the Admiralty requisitioned Trent to serve as a depot ship. She was assigned to support the river monitors {{HMS|Humber|1914|6}}, {{HMS|Mersey|1914|2}} and {{HMS|Severn|1914|2}} in the Gallipoli campaign. Trent transported the monitors' crews to Malta, while the monitors themselves were towed there by tugs. Trent continued to support the monitors, accompanying Mersey and Severn to East Africa in July 1915, for their attack on {{SMS|Königsberg|1905|6}} on the Rufiji River.
Trent later returned to home waters, and on 1 October 1917 became the depot ship for HMS Icarus, the Royal Naval Air Service base at Houton Bay, Scapa Flow. Here she supported the Orkney Air Service's anti-submarine patrols until March 1918.
Disposal
The Admiralty returned Trent to her owners on 23 January 1919. She was scrapped at Rotterdam in February 1922.
References
{{Reflist}}
Bibliography
- {{cite book |last=Haws |first=Duncan |year=1982 |title=Royal Mail & Nelson Lines |series=Merchant Fleets |volume=5 |place=Crowborough |publisher=Travel Creatours Ltd Publications |isbn=0-946378-00-2}}
- {{cite book |year=1900 |title=Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping |place=London |publisher=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |url= https://archive.org/details/HECROSS1901/page/n750/mode/1up |via=Internet Archive |ref={{harvid|Lloyd's Register 1900}} }}
- {{cite book |year=1910 |title=Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping |place=London |publisher=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |url= https://archive.org/details/HECROS1911ST/page/n1040/mode/1up |via=Internet Archive |ref={{harvid|Lloyd's Register 1910}} }}
- {{cite book |author=The Marconi Press Agency Ltd |author-link=Marconi Company |year=1913 |title=The Year Book of Wireless Telegraphy and Telephony |place=London |publisher=The St Katherine Press}}
- {{cite book |year=1902 |title=Mercantile Navy List |place=London |url= https://www.crewlist.org.uk/data/viewimages?&name=Trent&steamsail=Steam&submit=Enter&year=1902 |via=Crew List Index Project |ref={{harvid|Mercantile Navy List 1902}} }}
- {{cite book |last=Nicol |first=Stuart |year=2001a |title=MacQueen's Legacy; A History of the Royal Mail Line |volume=One |place=Brimscombe Port and Charleston, SC |publisher=Tempus Publishing |isbn=0-7524-2118-2}}
- {{cite book |last=Nicol |first=Stuart |year=2001b |title=MacQueen's Legacy; Ships of the Royal Mail Line |volume=Two |place=Brimscombe Port and Charleston, SC |publisher=Tempus Publishing |isbn=0-7524-2119-0}}
External links
- {{cite web |url= http://www.naval-history.net/OWShips-WW1-09-HMS_Trent.htm |editor-last=Money |editor-first=Paul |title=HMS Trent – August 1915 to January 1919, East Indies Station (including German East Africa, South Africa), UK home, repatriating POWs from Germany |work=Royal Navy Log Books of the World War 1 Era |publisher=Naval-History.net}}
- {{cite web |url= http://www.thamestugs.co.uk/RUFIJI-TOW-1915.php |title=The Rufiji Tow |work=Thames Tugs}}
{{1910 shipwrecks}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trent, SS}}
Category:Auxiliary ships of the Royal Navy
Category:Ocean liners of the United Kingdom
Category:Ships of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company
Category:Steamships of the United Kingdom