RMS Mooltan

The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company placed the order for R.M.S. Mooltan with Harland and Wolff Ltd on 29 November 1918. On the same date, an order was placed for her sister ship RMS Maloja She was given the yard No. 587 and work began on her in the Belfast shipyard. She was launched on 15 January 1923. She was then put through her sea trials and was finally delivered on 21 September 1923. She was then the first P & O ship over 20,000 tons, but she had sacrificed speed for reliability and comfort. The Mooltan had broad decks and would have a reputation for magnificent steadiness, although because of her small rudder, handling would prove to be difficult.

Maiden voyage

SS Mooltan set off on her maiden voyage on 5 October 1923. She left the Port of Tilbury, and via Suez canal arrived in Sydney, Australia on 21 December 1923, calling at Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Melbourne on her way. She would make the voyage to Australia many times carrying many thousands of immigrants to a new life in Australia. In 1929 SS Mooltan was refitted with new engines, namely, two British Thompson Houston exhaust-driven electric turbines and motors with the effect that her top speed was increased to convert|17|kn|km/h. The accommodation was also overhauled. In 1931 she was again in the yard. All the accommodation was again overhauled and improved. In 1933 she carried Douglas Jardine's MCC cricket test team back home to Britain after the controversial “Bodyline” Test Series (see link at the bottom of the page). In 1938 alterations were made to the ship which allowed her to carry chilled beef.

Wartime requisition

After the outbreak of the Second World War, Great Britain and her allies realised that they would need ships for troop and equipment movements. On 6 September 1939 SS Mooltan was requisitioned for service as an armed merchant cruiser and was converted for such a task. Part of the conversion was the removal of her second funnel, which was in any case a dummy used to ventilate the engine room below; this was done to improve the arc of her anti-aircraft guns. Later on in the war the funnel was replaced but in a shorter form. As an armed merchant cruiser, SS Mooltan served in the South Atlantic based in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and she had the satisfaction of not losing a single merchant ship placed in her care. On 31 July the Mooltan was on the western approaches en route from Plymouth to Freetown when she was attacked by a German reconnaissance aircraft; she survived intact. On 20 January 1941 she was returned to P & O for conversion to a troopship. The work was carried out by R & H Green and Silley Weir Ltd in Tilbury. The work was then completed at Tyneside, Newcastle and by May 1941 she had been fully converted. In 1941 she carried troops out to the Middle East Campaign, and in May 1942 she took part in the North African landings at Oran, Algeria as part of Operation Torch. She was returned to P & O after the war on 16 July 1947.

Peacetime and a return to normal service

where she was broken up.

pecifications

*OWNERS: The Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co.

*SERVICE: London, India, China, Australia mail and passenger service.

*NATIONALITY AND PORT: British. Belfast.

*BUILDERS: Messrs. Harland & Wolff, Ltd., Belfast, convert|1923.|yd|sing=on No. 587

*OFFICIAL NUMBERS: 145435. signal letters KPNG. call sign GFBC

*TONNAGE: 20,847 Tonnes gross. 12,836 Net tonnage. Deadweight 16,032 tonnes

*DIMENSIONS: convert|600.5|ft|m long between perpendiculars.Breath convert|73.5|ft|m. X Depth convert|48.5|ft|m. Draught convert|34.10|ft|m. 5 decks.

*ENGINES: 2 Quadruple expansion 4 cylinder reciprocating steam engines. 15,300 shaft horse power Inverted direct acting, balanced to climate vibration. Twin screw. Normal speed of 17½ knots.

*BOILERS: 6 D.E.and 2 S.E. boilers, convert|215|lb|abbr=on shaft horse power pr. Oil Fuel

*PAINTWORK: Black hull with white line, red boot-topping, stone upper works, black funnels.

Donald Seymour was the carpenter on this ship on her last voyage
*COMPLEMENT: 327 1stT class passengers, 320 2nd class passengers.

Technical drawings

External links

* [http://www.334notout.com/bodyline/main.htm Body line Test series]
* [http://portal.pohub.com/portal/page?_pageid=71,212201&_dad=pogprtl&_schema=POGPRTL The P & O Encyclopaedia]
* [http://www.titanic-titanic.com/harland_and_wolff.shtml Harland & Wolff 1]
* [http://www.harland-wolff.com/ Harland & Wolff 2]