HMS Salopian (F94)
UK passenger liner that became an armed merchant cruiser / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
HMS Salopian was a motor ship that was built in 1926 as the passenger ship Shropshire. She belonged to Bibby Line, which ran passenger and cargo services between Rangoon in Burma (now Yangon in Myanmar) and various ports in Great Britain, via the Suez Canal and Gibraltar.[1] The Admiralty requisitioned Shropshire in 1939, had her converted into an armed merchant cruiser (AMC), and renamed her Salopian. A German U-boat sank her in the Battle of the Atlantic in 1941.
History | |
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United Kingdom | |
Name |
|
Namesake | Shropshire |
Owner | Bibby Line |
Operator | 1939: Admiralty |
Port of registry | 1926: Liverpool |
Route | Great Britain – Rangoon |
Builder | Fairfield S&E, Govan |
Yard number | 619 |
Launched | 10 June 1926 |
Completed | October 1926 |
Identification |
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Fate | sunk by torpedo, 1941 |
General characteristics | |
Type |
|
Tonnage | 10,560 GRT, 6,629 NRT |
Length | 483.6 ft (147.4 m) |
Beam | 60.3 ft (18.4 m) |
Draught | 29 ft 1+1⁄4 in (8.87 m) |
Depth | 31.8 ft (9.7 m) |
Decks | 3 |
Installed power | 2,196 NHP |
Propulsion |
|
Speed | 15+1⁄2 knots (28.7 km/h) |
Complement | 281 (as AMC) |
Sensors and processing systems |
|
Armament |
|
Notes | sister ships: Cheshire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire, Derbyshire |
She was the second of five Bibby Line ships to be named after the English county of Shropshire. The first was a steamship that was built in 1891 and sold in 1909.[2] The third was a motor ship that was built in 1959 and sold in 1972.[3] The fourth was built in 1968 as Verdala, acquired in 1974 and renamed Shropshire, and sold in 1977. The fifth was built in 1985 as Stainless Fighter, bought in 1991 and renamed Shropshire.[4]
The second Shropshire was the first of five sister ships that the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company of Govan in Glasgow built for Bibby Line. She was followed by Cheshire in 1927, Staffordshire in 1929, Worcestershire in 1931, and Derbyshire in 1935.[5][6][7][8]