RMS ''Strathnaver'', later SS ''Strathnaver'', was an

ocean liner An ocean liner is a passenger ship primarily used as a form of transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships). C ...

of the

Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company P&O (in full, The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company) is a British shipping and logistics company dating from the early 19th century. Formerly a public company, it was sold to DP World in March 2006 for £3.9 billion. DP World c ...

(P&O). She was the first of five

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

s in what came to be called the "Strath" class. All previous P&O steamships had black-painted hulls and funnels but ''Strathnaver'' and her sisters were painted with white hulls and buff funnels, which earned them the nickname "The Beautiful White Sisters" or just "The White Sisters". ''Strathnaver'' and her sister ships and were

Royal Mail Ship Royal Mail Ship (sometimes Steam-ship or Steamer), usually seen in its abbreviated form RMS, is the ship prefix used for seagoing vessels that carry mail under contract to the British Royal Mail. The designation dates back to 1840. Any vessel d ...

s that worked P&O's regular liner route between

Tilbury Tilbury is a port town in the borough of Thurrock, Essex, England. The present town was established as separate settlement in the late 19th century, on land that was mainly part of Chadwell St Mary. It contains a 16th century fort and an anc ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, England and

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Australia. ''Strathnaver'' remained in service for just over 30 years, being scrapped in 1962.

Building

RMS Strathnaver lifeboats in davits, 1934

The Vickers-Armstrong shipyard at

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historically in Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. In 202 ...

built all five "Strath"-class liners. ''Strathnaver'' was launched on 5 February 1931, completed in September 1931 and left Tilbury on her maiden voyage on 2 October. In 1929 P&O had introduced its first large

turbo-electric A turbo-electric transmission uses electric generators to convert the mechanical energy of a turbine (steam or gas) into electric energy, which then powers electric motors and converts back into mechanical energy that power the driveshafts. Tur ...

liner, . The company chose the same propulsion system for ''Strathnaver'' and ''Strathaird'', but the "Straths" were slightly larger ships, their turbo-electric equipment was much more powerful and they were about faster than ''Viceroy of India''. ''Strathnaver'' and ''Strathaird'' were very similar. Each had four water-tube boilers and two auxiliary boilers. The boilers had a combined heating surface of and supplied steam at 425 lb_f/in² to two

turbo generator A turbo generator is an electric generator connected to the shaft of a steam turbine or gas turbine for the generation of electric power. Large steam-powered turbo generators provide the majority of the world's electricity and are also used b ...

s. These supplied current to two electric motors with a combined rating of 6,315 NHP or 28,000 shp.

British Thomson-Houston British Thomson-Houston (BTH) was a British engineering and heavy industry, heavy industrial company, based at Rugby, Warwickshire, England, and founded as a subsidiary of the General Electric Company (GE) of Schenectady, New York, United States ...

Rugby, Warwickshire Rugby is a market town in eastern Warwickshire, England, close to the River Avon. In the 2021 census its population was 78,125, making it the second-largest town in Warwickshire. It is the main settlement within the larger Borough of Rugby whi ...

built the turbo-generators and motors. The motors drove a pair of inward-rotating screw propellers. ''Strathnaver'' and ''Strathaird'' had three funnels but only the middle one served as a smoke stack: the first and third funnels were dummies. ''Strathnaver'' and ''Strathaird'' were each equipped with

direction finding Direction finding (DF), or radio direction finding (RDF), isin accordance with International Telecommunication Union (ITU)defined as radio location that uses the reception of radio waves to determine the direction in which a radio stat ...

equipment, an

echo sounding Echo sounding or depth sounding is the use of sonar for ranging, normally to determine the depth of water (bathymetry). It involves transmitting acoustic waves into water and recording the time interval between emission and return of a pulse; ...

device and a

gyrocompass A gyrocompass is a type of non-magnetic compass which is based on a fast-spinning disc and the rotation of the Earth (or another planetary body if used elsewhere in the universe) to find geographical direction automatically. The use of a gyroc ...

As built, ''Strathnaver'' had accommodation for 498 first class and 668 tourist class passengers and 476 crew. In first class the ship had 262 single-berth rooms with the rest double-berthed, a special suite on "D" deck had 12 de luxe cabins each with a private bathroom. The tourist-class cabins were either two or four-berthed. The ship was launched at Barrow on 5 February 1931 by Lady Janet Bailey, daughter of Lord Inchcape, the Chairman of P&O.

Service

P&O passenger liner RMS Strathnaver at Lisbon, 1934

''Strathnaver'' and ''Strathaird'' mostly worked the

—

route ''via'' the Suez Canal. They also undertook occasional cruises. In October 1938 the ship was chartered to move 1,200 British troops from India to Palestine. In 1939 or 1940 the two sisters were requisitioned as troop ships. ''Strathnaver''s war service included bringing

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

troops to

Suez Suez ( ar, السويس '; ) is a seaport city (population of about 750,000 ) in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez (a branch of the Red Sea), near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same b ...

and Allied troops to the Anzio landings. She remained a troop ship until November 1948, when she was returned to P&O. In her nine years of government service she carried 129,000 troops and travelled 352,000 miles. P&O had

Harland and Wolff Harland & Wolff is a British shipbuilding company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It specialises in ship repair, shipbuilding and offshore construction. Harland & Wolff is famous for having built the majority of the ocean liners for the ...

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingd ...

refit her for civilian service. First class was abolished and all accommodation was made tourist class, which slightly increased total passenger capacity from 1,168 to 1,252. The dummy first and third funnels were removed, which made ''Strathnaver'' look more like her later sisters ''Stratheden'', ''Strathallan'' and ''Strathmore''. ''Strathaird'' had already had her dummy funnels removed in 1947. When she returned to service in 1950 she had accommodation for 567 passengers in first-class and 458 in tourist-class. Originally planned to be retired in mid-1962 the ''Strathnaver'' was retired a few months earlier due to an Australian government decision not to reserve any more berths for migrants in the first five-months of 1962. P&O sold ''Strathnaver'' and ''Strathaird'' for scrap to Shun Fung Ironworks of Hong Kong. ''Strathnaver'' arrived in Hong Kong in April 1962 on her last voyage. replaced both ''Strathnaver'' and ''Strathaird'' on the Australia route. StateLibQld 1 128731 Strathnaver (ship)

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Strathnaver 1931 ships Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness Cruise ships Ocean liners of the United Kingdom Ships of P&O (company) Steamships of the United Kingdom Troop ships of the United Kingdom Turbo-electric steamships