Troopships in world war 2

[Lou Barron]

On my second trip to sea was on the Duchess of Bedford as a deck boy .Anyhow the convoy that i am to relate about was one the most protected by the Royal Navy we the battle ship Ramillies ,four cruisers and ten destroyers. Some of the troopships were very well knowed ships here are some Queen of Bermuda ,Stirling Castle ,Athlone Castle Arundel Castle ,Oransay ,Orontes ,Empress of Canada ,Empess of Austalia ,Highland Princess ,Andes , Georgic just to name a few .They were 21 troopships To me standing on the wig of the bridge it was truly a magnificent sight ithought were are those bloody germans now it just shows how naive iwas because with just a few hundred miles away in mid Atlantic ships were being sunk and seamen was dying like any thing .It was a long war

[John Arton]

Charles
I was born after the war so never had to experience the danger and hardships that all our brave men and women went through.
It must have been a truly magnificent sight seeing all those great liners painted grey and packed full of fighting men.
My father joined the RNVR for the war and was put in command of an admiralty deep sea rescue tug based in Campbeltown in Scotland and later Milford Haven where he was engaged in towing the Mulberry Harbour parts for the D Day landings.
Unfortunatley he died when I was young so I never got the chance to hear of his wartime experiences but from what little I have gleaned from my mother before she too died he, like you and al;l the rest of your comrades had a real tough time of it.
I do know that his tug was attacked by German aircraft on a number of occasions and once they arrived in Liverpool after towing a damaged ship into there with an unexploded bomb on his focstle.
Also he once left Campbelltown on what my mother thought would be a routine mission (if there ever was such a thing) thinking he would be back in days, only for him not to reappear for months. Apparently they had gone all the way across to the States and then onto the Far East.
I am presently trying to get his wartime service records from the National Archives. They have acknowledged my request for digital copies some weks ago but to date nothing has turned up. Hopefully when it does I will be able to get a fuller picture of his experiencies.
Again from mine and the generations that come after me I can only thank you and your comrades for the incredible sacrifices you made to preserve our freedom and only wish that the true recognition of your service could, and should, been made at a much earlier date. Even now I feel that your contribution is not sufficiently recognised and sites such as this and the various organisations must keep pushing for even more recognition.
rgds
Capt. John Arton (ret'd)

[Captain Kong]

Again from mine and the generations that come after me I can only thank you and your comrades for the incredible sacrifices you made to preserve our freedom and only wish that the true recognition of your service could, and should, been made at a much earlier date. Even now I feel that your contribution is not sufficiently recognised and sites such as this and the various organisations must keep pushing for even more recognition.
rgds
Capt. John Arton (ret'd)
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I totally agree with the Captain. Brian.
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Hi Lou,
As you know the Duchess of Bedford was known as the most bombed ship to survive the war.
She later became the Empress of France. I sailed on her in more peaceful conditions.
.
Another ship you mentioned in that Convoy was the GEORGIC, she was bombed and sunk in Suez later then recovered. I wrote about her on page three in Seafaring Stories thread. I sailed on her last Trooping voyage with Australian troops to Malaya and the French Foreign Legion from Viet Nam to Algiers and Mersailes then to the breakers in 1955,
here is a bit about her sinking........
.
................
While the GEORGIC was homeward bound on 11th March 1940, the Cunard – White Star company was informed that she would be taken off commercial service. After discharging a large cargo at Liverpool, the Georgic was ordered to the Clyde on 19th April where she was converted into a troopship for 3,000 men.
At the end of May 1940 the Georgic assisted in the evacuation of British troops from Andesfjord and Narvik, and as soon as she had landed these men at Greenock, she sailed south to assist in the withdrawal from Brest and St Nazaire. She was under repeated air attack and was indeed fortunate in not being hit. Between July and September 1940 the Georgic made a trooping voyage to Iceland, and another to Halifax NS, embarking Canadian troops after landing the evacuees she carried on the westbound passage. From September 1940 until January 1941 the Georgic was employed on a trooping voyage from Liverpool and Glasgow to the Middle East via the Cape, and afterwards trooped from Liverpool to New York and Halifax, and back to the Clyde.
On 22nd May 1941 the Georgic left the Clyde under the command of Captain A.C. Greig, OBE, RNR, with the 50th Northumberland Division for Port Tewfik, Gulf of Suez. She was part of the convoy which had to be left almost unprotected during the hunt for the Bismarck. She arrived safely on 7th July 1941, but a week later on 14th July she was bombed by German aircraft operating from Crete while at anchor off Port Tewfik, with 800 Italian internees on board. Her fuel oil caught fire and the ammunition exploded in the stern area. The Georgic was gutted and the engine room flooded, but her crew managed to slip the anchor cable and beach the ship on 16th July, half submerged and burnt out.
On the after deck at No5 hatch was a new German tank to be taken to England to be tested, It had been captured in the desert. A barge came alongside and several members of the Norfolk Regiment climbed on board and although they were surrounded by flames and explosions from the ammunition exploding in No.5 Hold they got slings and the derrick and lifted the tank over the side and onto the barge. a few medals were won that day. The flames swept forard through the decks and accommodation and when the fire reached the bridge they had to slide down ropes on the fore part onto the fore deck where they waited for rescue, a young lady, who was being evacuated from Cairo to England with her baby, as the flames advanced to the fore deck she tied her baby to her back and jumped over the bow, when she surfaced her baby was dead. It took a couple of weeks for the ship to cool down sufficiently for anyone to board her. she was a burnt and blackened hulk, Eighteen feet of water in her engine room. Thus started one of the biggest salvage operations ever attempted.
On 14th September 1941 it was decided to salvage the vessel and the hulk was raised on 27th October. The hull was plugged, and on 2nd December the Georgic was taken in tow by the Clan Campbell and the City of Sydney. She reached Port Sudan on 14th December where she was made seaworthy. It had taken 12 days for the tow to cover 710 miles
The Georgic left Port Sudan on 5th March 1942 and was towed by T. & J. Harrison’s Recorder, with the tug St Sampson steering from astern. On the following day a strong north-westerly gale rendered the wallowing Georgic almost unmanageable. The southerly course had to be abandoned and the ships hove to. For five hours the Recorder battled to bring her charge head to wind, and in the process the tug St Sampson was damaged. The tug was rapidly filling with water and slipped her tow rope and drifted down wind. Shortly afterwards she foundered and her crew were picked up by the hospital ship Dorsetshire, which was passing at the time.
For twelve hours the Recorder and the Georgic rode out the gale and then, as the winds abated, cautiously swung back through 180 degrees to resume their course. Meanwhile they were joined by another tug, the Pauline Moller and the British India steamer Haresfield and together they guided their labouring charge past Abu Ail and the islands of the southern Red Sea into the Gulf of Aden, and on to Karachi. The salvage crew responsible for the Georgic lived on board the Recorder and every few days boarded the liner from a motor launch in order to pump out a steady ingress of water.
On 31st March 1942, 26 days out of Port Sudan, the ships arrived off Karachi where the Georgic was taken in hand by eight harbour tugs. The Recorder and her consorts, having covered 2,100 miles with the Georgic, had completed one of the most successful salvage operations of the war. Captain W.B. Wilford of the Recorder was later invested with the OBE.
The Georgic remained at Karachi until 11th December whilst temporary repairs were carried out. She then sailed to Bombay, arriving on 13th December, where she was drydocked for hull cleaning and further repairs. Finally she loaded 5,000 tons of pig iron ballast and on 20th January 1943 the Georgic left Bombay under her own power for Liverpool where she arrived on 1st March, having made the passage at 16 knots. Shortly afterwards she sailed for Belfast, but had to anchor in Bangor Bay until 5th July awaiting a berth. After seventeen months the Georgic emerged on 12th December 1944 with one funnel and a stump foremast. She was now owned by the Ministry of Transport, with Cunard-White Star as managers. After trials, the Georgic left Belfast for Liverpool on 16th December 1944, three years and five months since she was bombed at Port Tewfik.
During 1945 the Georgic trooped to Italy, the Middle East and India. On Christmas Day she arrived at Liverpool with troops from the Far East, including General Sir William Slim, C-in-C South East Asia. Early in 1946 the Georgic repatriated 5,000 Italian prisoners of war. In June 1946 on a homeward voyage from Bombay there was trouble between civilian women and service women, and this led to the barring of civilians on troopships unless no other transport was available.
In September 1948 the Georgic was refitted by Palmers & Company at Hebburn for the Australian and New Zealand emigrant trade. She retained her White Star livery, and could accommodate 1,962 passengers in one class. In January 1949 the Georgic made her first sailing on the Liverpool – Suez – Fremantle – Melbourne – Sydney run with 1,200 ‘assisted passages’. However, as she was leaving Princes Landing Stage a rope wrapped round one of her propellers and she had to re-dock. During the summers from 1950 to 1954, the Georgic was chartered back to Cunard and she made seven round voyages to New York each year as a one-class liner. In 1950 she was based at Liverpool, but Southampton was her terminal port from 1951 until 1954.
In the winter of 1954/55 the Georgic resumed ‘assisted passage’ voyages to Australia, and on 16th April 1955 she arrived at Liverpool with troops from Japan. She was then offered for sale, but the Australian Government chartered her for the summer.
.The Georgic’s final voyage was to Australia via Cape Town with British emigrants, then Australian Troops , 2RAR, to Penang and Butterworth ,Malaya,
After loading 2000 French Foreign Legionaires at Cape St. Jaque, now renamed Vung Tau, Viet Nam we took them to Algiers and Marseilles.

On 11th December the Georgic was laid up at Kames Bay, Isle of Bute, pending disposal. In January 1956 the Georgic was sold for scrapping and on 1st February arrived at Faslane for demolition by Shipbreaking Industries Ltd.

Cheers Brian.

[Lou Barron]

Hi Brian Yes i remember the Georgic i think on my second trip on the Duchess when we arrived in port Tewfik we could see the Georgic she looked a complete wreck.By the way the Captain of the Duchess was a Capt Busk -Wood Nice to hear from you Brian and you arrived home ok LOU

[Lou Barron]

Last night i watched the picture The Sinking of the Laconia i was going to turn it off but ithought what the hell its only a picture .What i the way the Italians pows was in cages and the treament the got from the british soldiers also the behaviour of the Germans

on the Duchess of Bedford we had about 2000 Italians pows and has they was not in cages they was in the troop decks and they was very well behaved in fact they use to be singing a lot of the times i had a belt that i got from one of the pows for some cigarettes i gave him they was aloud on deck in sections for a couple of hours a day they were very well guarded .On another trip we also picked up some German pows from Freetown they were a lot different from the Ities they were very sullen .But going back to the Uboat the Germans was something like the jerrys that we came into contact with on the German raider .Some ofthem was the pure nazi type while a lot of them could not do enough for us

[Deborah Hart]

re. Georgic

I hope its okay to post here as I am not a member of the BMN but I am trying to find out more information about the Georgic as it seems that the "history" available via the internet is not totally accurate!

As a very young child I sailed on the Georgic in 1952 (I think) with my mother and 2 brothers to Malaya as part of a contingent of British Army wives and children. I have some clear images of it including what I was told was evidence of repairs from when it had been shelled and going on deck as we went through the Suez Canal etc..

However, during the voyage and apparently because there were only medical orderlies on board and no doctors (although maybe they couldn't have done anything), there were a number of out breaks of childhood diseases. Unfortunately this led to the death of some children and I had always understood that the situation became so serious with many adults also seriously ill, that there were questions raised in the House of Commons.

However on searching Hansard etc., I can find no reference to this, and all the online histories of the Georgic make no mention of this incident.

Presumably there wasn't another ship with the same name. Is there anywhere I can find out more about this? And in fact why there is no public record of this.

Thanks

[Captain Kong]

Hi Deborah,
I sailed on the Georgic, in 1955. on her final voyage to Australia via Cape Town, with emmigrants then Australian Troops RAR to Penang, Butterworth, Malaya and French Foriegn Legion to Algiers and Marseilles. we laid her up in Liverpool and then took her to the Clyde for scrapping.
We went to Australia via Cape Town because the previous voyage, April 1955 she went via Suez and the Red Sea.
There was no Air Con as she was built for the cold Western Ocean run. Five children died that voyage because of the Heat and were buried at sea. All the rest of the children were kept in the cool rooms where the Veggies were stored and entertained there to keep them cool..
Today it is very difficult to get records of Individual voyages as the ship was scrapped 57 years ago.
She was not a popular ship, The cabins for passengers were up to Ten People to a cabin, All females in one and all males in another. So families were split up.
. All I can do is provide you with the details of the ship, which at one time was one of the most luxurious ships on the Atlantic, England to New York in pre war days. Then she was converted to Trooping and then sunk. here is a breif history..................
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.CUNARD – WHITE STAR LINER ‘GEORGIC’ OF 1932

Built by Harland & Wolff at Belfast in 1932. Yard No. 896
Official Number: 162365 Call Sign: L H R F
Gross Tonnage: 27,759, Nett: 16,839. Length: 683•6ft Breadth: 82•4ft
Built for the Oceanic Steam Navigation Co. Ltd., (The White Star Line),
and transferred to Cunard – White Star in 1934
2 oil engines, speed: 18 knots
The Georgic was launched at Belfast by Harland & Wolff for the White Star Line on 12th November 1931. She was the final ship built for the White Star fleet. She differed from her sister – the Britannic, completed two years earlier – in a number of respects. The Georgic was designed on ambitious lines with an almost straight stem, cruiser stern, and the then fashionable squat funnels with tops parallel to the deck. Unlike her sister, the Georgic had a rounded bridge front. Slightly larger than the Britannic, her original accommodation was for a total of 1,636 passengers: 479 in cabin class, 557 in tourist class and 600 in third class.
In April 1931 it was reported that construction work on the Georgic was to be speeded up so that she could enter service in May 1932 instead of June as was originally anticipated. Behind this idea was the fact that some 25,000 Americans were due to visit Dublin to attend the Eucharistic Conference that was to be held there from 22nd until 29th June. As it turned out, the Georgic was not completed in time for the conference, and she began her maiden voyage on 25th June when she left Liverpool for New York.

The Georgic’s forward funnel was a dummy and housed the radio room and the engineers’ smoke room. She was designed as a cabin-class ship but her passengers had surroundings and comfort equal to those provided in any de lux liner of the day. The Georgic’s trials took place in early June 1932 and a large party of guests was taken to join the ship in the Belfast Steamship Company’s motor ship Ulster Monarch which was specially chartered for the occasion. The completion of the ship attracted great attention, and in welcoming her to the Mersey for the first time, the Lord Mayor of Liverpool offered his congratulations to the owners. The Georgic made the outward passage of her maiden voyage to New York in rough weather, but even so managed to arrive some twelve hours ahead of schedule.
In November 1932 the Georgic’s sailing was brought forward two days in order that she could fit in with the postal arrangements for the Christmas mails to the United States. On 11th January 1933 she made her first sailing from Southampton to New York, having moved south to replace the Olympic whilst that vessel underwent an extensive engine overhaul.
A record fruit cargo of 51,687 cartons, representing about 3,000 tons, was discharged by the Georgic at Liverpool in October 1933. On 10th May 1934 the vessel was amalgamated into the Cunard – White Star Line fleet. In June 1934 the Georgic was turned into a floating ballroom in aid of the Liverpool David Lewis Northern Hospital’s building fund. During January 1935 there was fire among some cotton bales in the ship’s forward hold.
On 3rd May 1935 the Georgic joined the Britannic on the London (King George V Dock) – Southampton – New York service, and was the largest vessel to use the Thames, being fractionally larger than the Dominion Monarch. In 1939 the Georgic reverted to the Liverpool – New York service and made five round trans-Atlantic voyages on commercial service with cargo and passengers, although she was hampered by the fact that Americans had been ordered not to travel on her as she was a belligerent ship. While she was homeward bound on 11th March 1940, the Cunard – White Star company was informed that she would be taken off commercial service. After discharging a large cargo at Liverpool, the Georgic was ordered to the Clyde on 19th April where she was converted into a troopship for 3,000 men.
At the end of May 1940 the Georgic assisted in the evacuation of British troops from Andesfjord and Narvik, and as soon as she had landed these men at Greenock, she sailed south to assist in the withdrawal from Brest and St Nazaire. She was under repeated air attack and was indeed fortunate in not being hit. Between July and September 1940 the Georgic made a trooping voyage to Iceland, and another to Halifax NS, embarking Canadian troops after landing the evacuees she carried on the westbound passage. From September 1940 until January 1941 the Georgic was employed on a trooping voyage from Liverpool and Glasgow to the Middle East via the Cape, and afterwards trooped from Liverpool to New York and Halifax, and back to the Clyde.
On 22nd May 1941 the Georgic left the Clyde under the command of Captain A.C. Greig, OBE, RNR, with the 50th Northumberland Division for Port Tewfik, Gulf of Suez. She was part of the convoy which had to be left almost unprotected during the hunt for the Bismarck. She arrived safely on 7th July 1941, but a week later on 14th July she was bombed by German aircraft operating from Crete while at anchor off Port Tewfik, with 800 Italian internees on board. Her fuel oil caught fire and the ammunition exploded in the stern area. The Georgic was gutted and the engine room flooded, but her crew managed to slip the anchor cable and beach the ship on 16th July, half submerged and burnt out.
On the after deck at No5 hatch was a new German tank to be taken to England to be tested, It had been captured in the desert. A barge came alongside and several members of the Norfolk Regiment climbed on board and although they were surrounded by flames and explosions from the ammunition exploding in No.5 Hold they got slings and the derrick and lifted the tank over the side and onto the barge. a few medals were won that day. The flames swept forard through the decks and accommodation and when the fire reached the bridge they had to slide down ropes on the fore part onto the fore deck where they waited for rescue, a young lady, who was being evacuated from Cairo to England with her baby, as the flames advanced to the fore deck she tied her baby to her back and jumped over the bow, when she surfaced her baby was dead. It took a couple of weeks for the ship to cool down sufficiently for anyone to board her. she was a burnt and blackened hulk, Eighteen feet of water in her engine room. Thus started one of the biggest salvage operations ever attempted.
On 14th September 1941 it was decided to salvage the vessel and the hulk was raised on 27th October. The hull was plugged, and on 2nd December the Georgic was taken in tow by the Clan Campbell and the City of Sydney. She reached Port Sudan on 14th December where she was made seaworthy. It had taken 12 days for the tow to cover 710 miles
The Georgic left Port Sudan on 5th March 1942 and was towed by T. & J. Harrison’s Recorder, with the tug St Sampson steering from astern. On the following day a strong north-westerly gale rendered the wallowing Georgic almost unmanageable. The southerly course had to be abandoned and the ships hove to. For five hours the Recorder battled to bring her charge head to wind, and in the process the tug St Sampson was damaged. The tug was rapidly filling with water and slipped her tow rope and drifted down wind. Shortly afterwards she foundered and her crew were picked up by the hospital ship Dorsetshire, which was passing at the time.
For twelve hours the Recorder and the Georgic rode out the gale and then, as the winds abated, cautiously swung back through 180 degrees to resume their course. Meanwhile they were joined by another tug, the Pauline Moller and the British India steamer Haresfield and together they guided their labouring charge past Abu Ail and the islands of the southern Red Sea into the Gulf of Aden, and on to Karachi. The salvage crew responsible for the Georgic lived on board the Recorder and every few days boarded the liner from a motor launch in order to pump out a steady ingress of water.
On 31st March 1942, 26 days out of Port Sudan, the ships arrived off Karachi where the Georgic was taken in hand by eight harbour tugs. The Recorder and her consorts, having covered 2,100 miles with the Georgic, had completed one of the most successful salvage operations of the war. Captain W.B. Wilford of the Recorder was later invested with the OBE.
The Georgic remained at Karachi until 11th December whilst temporary repairs were carried out. She then sailed to Bombay, arriving on 13th December, where she was drydocked for hull cleaning and further repairs. Finally she loaded 5,000 tons of pig iron ballast and on 20th January 1943 the Georgic left Bombay under her own power for Liverpool where she arrived on 1st March, having made the passage at 16 knots. Shortly afterwards she sailed for Belfast, but had to anchor in Bangor Bay until 5th July awaiting a berth. After seventeen months the Georgic emerged on 12th December 1944 with one funnel and a stump foremast. She was now owned by the Ministry of Transport, with Cunard-White Star as managers. After trials, the Georgic left Belfast for Liverpool on 16th December 1944, three years and five months since she was bombed at Port Tewfik.
During 1945 the Georgic trooped to Italy, the Middle East and India. On Christmas Day she arrived at Liverpool with troops from the Far East, including General Sir William Slim, C-in-C South East Asia. Early in 1946 the Georgic repatriated 5,000 Italian prisoners of war. In June 1946 on a homeward voyage from Bombay there was trouble between civilian women and service women, and this led to the barring of civilians on troopships unless no other transport was available.
In September 1948 the Georgic was refitted by Palmers & Company at Hebburn for the Australian and New Zealand emigrant trade. She retained her White Star livery, and could accommodate 1,962 passengers in one class. In January 1949 the Georgic made her first sailing on the Liverpool – Suez – Fremantle – Melbourne – Sydney run with 1,200 ‘assisted passages’. However, as she was leaving Princes Landing Stage a rope wrapped round one of her propellers and she had to re-dock. During the summers from 1950 to 1954, the Georgic was chartered back to Cunard and she made seven round voyages to New York each year as a one-class liner. In 1950 she was based at Liverpool, but Southampton was her terminal port from 1951 until 1954.
In the winter of 1954/55 the Georgic resumed ‘assisted passage’ voyages to Australia, and on 16th April 1955 she arrived at Liverpool with troops from Japan. She was then offered for sale, but the Australian Government chartered her for the summer. The Georgic’s final voyage was to Australia via Cape Town with British emigrants, then Australian Troops , 2RAR, to Penang and Butterworth ,Malaya,
After loading 2000 French Foreign Legionaires at Cape St. Jaque, now renamed Vung Tau, Viet Nam we took them to Algiers and Marseilles.

On 11th December the Georgic was laid up at Kames Bay, Isle of Bute, pending disposal. In January 1956 the Georgic was sold for scrapping and on 1st February arrived at Faslane for demolition by Shipbreaking Industries Ltd.
.
I hope this is of use to you Deborah, it is all the information I have been able to get.
I wrote about the final Voyage of the GEORGIC on Page three of Seafaring Stories.
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.1, GEORGIC Maiden Voyage 1932. 2, GEORGIC after reconstuction as trooper and migant ship. 3.GEORGIC sunk and burned out in Suez Bay

[Deborah Hart]

Many thanks for this information.

It certainly puts a very different spin on what has been a long standing family story of bad luck for us to have been on the 1952 voyage. (My mother always blamed the army for not making proper arrangements as she has experience of many sea voyages both as a child and later in WWII to compare it to).

However it looks like despite the deaths in 1952 and who knows if there were any on other voyages, that there were further deaths in 1955. How sad if they could have been avoided.

But somebody somewhere must have taken note for the route to have been altered, eventually. And what a sensible use of a cool room!

I am most grateful to you for sharing this.

Deborah

[Tony Morcom]

re. Georgic

I hope its okay to post here as I am not a member of the BMN but I am trying to find out more information about the Georgic as it seems that the "history" available via the internet is not totally accurate!

Welcome to the site Deborah. Sadly I missed your post yesterday but I am glad that Captain Kong has been able to furnish you with some relevant information. You will find all sorts of topics discussed on the site which provide a lot of enjoyment for very many members. I hope that you will find the same.