HMS Royal Ulsterman

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HMS Royal Ulsterman Ca 1943.jpg
Career Royal Navy Ensign
Name: HMS Royal Ulsterman
Builder: Harland and Wolff, Belfast
Launched: 10 March 1936
Fate: Sunk by mine, 1973
General characteristics
Displacement: 3,250 tons (gross)
Length: 328 feet (100 m) (pp) 339 ft 6 in (103.48 m) (oa)
Beam: 47 ft 9 in (14.55 m)
Draught: 14 ft (4.3 m)
Propulsion: 2-shaft Diesel BHP 7,500
Speed: 16 knots (30 km/h)
Capacity: 830 troops, six LCAs
Complement: 236
Armament: 1 x 12 pdr AA, 5 x 20mm AA

Commissioned in 1936, the Royal Ulsterman was a 3,250 ton passenger ship which, along with her sister-ship, HMS Royal Scotsman, sailed the Glasgow-Belfast run for Burns and Laird Lines Ltd. During the Second World War, Royal Ulsterman served as a Royal Navy Reserve troop transport, taking part in nearly all of the major Allied amphibious operations of the European war, including the Dunkirk evacuation, Operation Neptune, and the liberation of the Channel Islands.

Wartime Service

Operations off Norway

Commissioned HMS, Royal Ulsterman landed elements of the British Expeditionary Force for operations in Norway in 1940. Subsequently, the ship delivered armaments to Harstad, high above the Arctic circle.

Evacuation of the BEF from France

On 18 June, Royal Ulsterman embarked some 2,800 troops and three civilian women at St. Nazaire, transporting them to Falmouth. By the end of August, she had also transported French personnel to Casablanca, carried civilian refugees from the Mediterranean region to Glasgow, and landed some 700 troops at Iceland. Over the next year, Ulsterman would make regular trips between the British Isles and Iceland. During one of these runs, Ulsterman carried the three survivors of HMS Hood back to the UK.

On 29 August 1941, off the west coast of Scotland, Ulsterman was holed in a collision with the destroyer HMS St. Mary's, requiring repairs on the Mersey until late September.

Operation Torch

Ulsterman took part in Operation Torch, landing United States Army Rangers of the 1st Battalion on the Algerian coast on 8 November 1942. On 14 November, while ferrying troops from Oran to Algiers, Ulsterman was attacked, unsuccessfully, by five Luftwaffe aircraft.

Operation Husky and Operation Avalanche

On 10 July 1943, Royal Ulsterman disembarked troops of the British 8th Army in Sicily for Operation Husky. She subsequently took part in Operation Avalanche, landing troops on 9 September 1943 at Salerno.

Operation Neptune

After a two-month long refit at Southampton in March and April 1944, Royal Ulsterman took part in Operation Neptune, the amphibious operation that launched Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944. Ulsterman disembarked troops of the 9th brigade of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division to Juno Beach.

Liberation of the Channel Islands

Seized by the Germans in 1940, the Channel Islands were the only part of the British Isles to be occupied by the enemy during the Second World War. Not until after Germany's surrender were the islands liberated. Royal Ulsterman landed British troops on Jersey on 11 May 1945 and provided additional reinforcements on 18 May.

Postwar History

Royal Ulsterman returned to Belfast in November 1945 and was paid off on 20 December. After reconditioning, she resumed work on the Glasgow-Belfast run for Burns and Laird. She served in this capacity until 1967. Serving with Mediterranean Link Lines of Famagusta in 1973, she struck a mine near Beirut and sank.

Senior Officers of HMS Royal Ulsterman, ca. 1945
File:James McIntosh and George Lantham.jpg
James McIntosh and George Lantham, officers of HMS Royal Ulsterman ca. 1942

References

  • Lenton, H.T. & Colledge, J. J. Warships of World War II, Ian Allen, London, 1973. ISBN 0-7110-0403-X

External links