HMNZS Monowai (F59)

For other ships of the same name, see HMNZS Monowai.

300px The Monowai in Milford Sound in 1933.
Career
Name:	SS Razmak
Port of registry:	United Kingdom
Builder:	Harland and Wolff
Laid down:	1923
Launched:	1924
In service:	1925
Out of service:	1930
Career (New Zealand)
Acquired:	21 October 1939
Commissioned:	30 August 1940
Decommissioned:	18 June 1943
Career (United Kingdom)
Name:	HMS Monowai
Acquired:	1943
Commissioned:	18 June 1943
Decommissioned:	August 1946
Fate:	scrapped 1960
General characteristics
Class and type:	armed merchant cruiser from 1944: landing ship/troopship
Displacement:	10,852 tons gross, 4,925 tons net
Length:	158.2/152.5 m (519/500 ft)
Beam:	19.3 m (63.2 ft)
Propulsion:	two shaft reciprocal 4 cylinder QE plus low reduction twin exhaust turbines 14,740 bhp
Speed:	18 knots max
Complement:	366 as AMC
Sensors and processing systems:	SS1 Type Radar
Armament:	As AMC: 8x 6-inch guns (4 each side) 2x3 in AA. 6x20 mm (6x1) twin 20 mm with radar added June 1942 some MGs, 8 Depth charges As LSI(L): 1x4 in, 2x QF 12-pdr (2x1), 2x QF 2-pdr AA (2x1), 2x40 mm (2x1) 8xRPs (2x4), 8x20 mm AA (8x1)
Notes:	Davits fitted for 20 LCAs (Landing Craft Assault) for 800 plus troops. Capacity of each 35 troops or 365 kg cargo.

HMNZS Monowai (F59) was an armed merchant cruiser of the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN). She subsequently became HMS Monowai, a Landing Ship, Infantry mostly operating as a troopship, before returning to her old trade as a passenger ship.

Civilian career

Originally the SS Razmak, she was built at Greenock yard for the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. She was designed for service between Bombay and Aden and spent several years in the Mediterranean. When demand on her original route dried up, she was offered for sale and transferred to the antipodes . The Union Steam Ship Company, part of the P & O group, took her on in 1930 as their second SS Monowai and she ran a subsidized service from Wellington to Vancouver via several Pacific stops. From 24 November 1932 she ran mostly from Wellington to Sydney.

Conversion to armed merchant cruiser

Guns suitable for the Monowai had been ordered and stored at the Devonport Naval Base in Auckland. The Monowai was requisitioned by the Royal New Zealand Navy on 21 October 1939 and was prepared for mounting the guns. Then followed a period of indecision, and in February 1940 work on her was suspended for over four months. She completed in August 1940 when she was commissioned.

She was unsuccessfully attacked by the 2,554 ton Japanese submarine I-20 on 16 January 1942.

Monowai was the first of two ships with this name to serve in the Royal New Zealand Navy. She was named after the New Zealand glacial lake Monowai. Monowai is a Māori word meaning "channel full of water".

Conversion to LSI

As surplus, in 1943 she was transferred to Liverpool in the UK and handed over to the British Ministry of War Transport. Monowai went to Glasgow for conversion to an "Landing Ship, Infantry (Large)" or LSI(L). From June 1943 to February 1944 she was refitted with completely different armament, capacity for up to 1,800 fully equipped troops, and 20 Assault Landing Craft. She was used during the Normandy landings.

In the later period of the war she was used as a troopship transporting soldiers and after the end of the war in repatriation.

Post war

On 31 August 1946 she was returned to her owner. She resumed merchant service in January 1949 after extensive repair. In 1960 she was sold for breaking up in Hong Kong.

Notes and references

• McDougall, R J (1989) New Zealand Naval Vessels. Page 34-35. Government Printing Office. ISBN 9780477013994

External links

• TSS Monowai 1925-1960
• Monowai - A Steamships Of Many Faces