RMS ''Windsor Castle'', along with her sister, , was an

ocean liner An ocean liner is a type of passenger ship primarily used for 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). The ...

laid down by the

Union-Castle Line The Union-Castle Line was a British shipping line that operated a fleet of passenger liners and cargo ships between Europe and Africa from 1900 to 1977. It was formed from the merger of the Union Line and Castle Shipping Line. It merged with ...

for service from the United Kingdom to South Africa. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the ''Windsor Castle'' was requisitioned as a

troopship A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable to land troops directly on shore, typic ...

and on 23 March 1943 was sunk by an aerial

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

off the coast of Algeria.

History

Construction and design

Originally designed for the

in 1913, she was ordered from

Harland & Wolff Harland & Wolff Holdings plc is a British shipbuilding and Metal fabrication, fabrication company headquartered in London with sites in Belfast, Arnish yard, Arnish, Appledore, Torridge, Appledore and Methil. It specialises in ship repair, ship ...

but her construction was held up by the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The continuation of the war until late 1918 led Harland & Wolff to subcontract her building to

John Brown & Company John Brown and Company of Clydebank was a Scottish Naval architecture, marine engineering and shipbuilding firm. It built many notable and world-famous ships including , , , , , and ''Queen Elizabeth 2 (ship), Queen Elizabeth 2''. At its heig ...

. ''Windsor Castle'' was not completed until 1922. The two ships were the only four-

stacked ''Stacked'' is an American television sitcom that aired on Fox from April 13, 2005, to January 11, 2006. Premise ''Stacked'' was described as the opposite of ''Cheers'', instead of a smart person in a "dumb" place, it is based on the concept o ...

s built and design for a route other than the

transatlantic crossing Transatlantic crossings are passages of passengers and cargo across the Atlantic Ocean between Europe or Africa and the Americas. The majority of passenger traffic is across the North Atlantic between Western Europe and North America. Centuries ...

. She had a capacity of 234 first, 362 second, and 274 third-class passengers. The liner had two masts and two propellers and could reach a top speed of . In her refit she was given a raked bow which lengthened her from , to , and had her passenger capacity reduced from 870 to 604. Her top speed was increased to , and her tonnage increased to 19,141 gross register tons.

Ocean Liner career

''Windsor Castle'' set out on her maiden voyage from

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

in April 1922. This gave the Union-Castle Line the two largest ships on that run to provide an alternating service between England and South Africa. And apart from the comforts, the ship had also been designed with safety in mind. The hull was subdivided into twelve

watertight compartment A compartment is a portion of the space within a ship defined vertically between Deck (ship), decks and horizontally between Bulkhead (partition), bulkheads. It is analogous to a room within a building, and may provide watertight subdivision of the ...

s and a

double bottom A double hull is a ship hull design and construction method where the bottom and sides of the ship have two complete layers of watertight hull surface: one outer layer forming the normal hull of the ship, and a second inner hull which is some di ...

. Furthermore, ''Windsor Castle'' was equipped with many

lifeboats Lifeboat may refer to: Rescue vessels * Lifeboat (shipboard), a small craft aboard a ship to allow for emergency escape * Lifeboat (rescue), a boat designed for sea rescues * Airborne lifeboat, an air-dropped boat used to save downed airmen ...

, with room for the ship's total capacity of passengers. Just aft of the fourth funnel, the ship had a pair of gantry

davit Boat suspended from Welin Quadrant davits; the boat is mechanically 'swung out' Gravity multi-pivot on Scandinavia'' file:Bossoir a gravité.jpg, Gravity Roller Davit file:Davits-starbrd.png, Gravity multi-pivot davit holding rescue vessel on ...

s (like those carried on ) alone capable of handling twelve boats.

1930s refit

During the 1930s, ''Windsor'' and ''Arundel'' were given refits to make them look more modern. This included reducing their funnels from four to two, with new Babcock-Johnson boilers, and they both were given raked, more modern bows, which slightly increased their length. Also removed were the ships' large gantry-like davits capable of carrying six lifeboats each, which were replaced with the much more common Welin davits featured on liners such as .

Second World War and sinking

Requisitioned as a

in the Second World War, she was bombed west of Ireland in 1941 but the bomb never exploded and she reached port. She was used for transatlantic trooping from Canada and the United States in 1942. in 1943, ''Windsor Castle'' was sunk by a

launched from a German aircraft while in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

as part of convoy KMF 11. She was hit at 2:30 am but did not sink until 5:25 pm, going down stern first, west northwest of

Algiers Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many Communes of Algeria, communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Offi ...

, Algeria. Only one crewman was killed, 2,699 troops and 289 crew were rescued by the

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

s , , and .

References

External links

MaritimeQuest RMS Windsor Castle pages
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Windsor Castle (1922) Ocean liners Four funnel liners Ships sunk by German aircraft Ships of the Union-Castle Line 1921 ships Maritime incidents in March 1943 World War II shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea