SS Westralia (1897)
| Career (Australia) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | SS Westralia |
| Owner: | Huddart Parker |
| Builder: | Sir J Laing & Sons, Sunderland |
| Launched: | 1897 |
| Fate: | Sunk in air raids on Rabaul on 20 January 1942 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 2,884 gross tons, 1,819 net |
| Length: | 327 ft (100 m) |
| Beam: | 41 ft (12 m) |
| Draught: | 20 ft (6.1 m) |
SS Westralia, was a 1,819 ton Australian cargo and passenger ship. She served as a troopship in World War I and was later converted into a hulk and was sunk in the air raids on Rabaul on 20 January 1942.
Launched in 1897 from the shipyards of Sir J Laing & Sons, Sunderland for the Melbourne-based Huddart Parker line. She served along the Australian coastline and the trans-Tasman route.
In 1917, she was used as a troopship to transport the New Zealand 27th and 28th Main Regiment.[1] She then resumed her commercial role with Huddart Parker.
She was sold to W. R. Carpenter & Co., Sydney in 1927, had her engines removed and was towed to Rabaul for use as coal hulk arriving in 1929. During the Rabaul air raids of 20 January 1942, she was bombed and sunk in Simpson Harbour.[2]
Citiations
- ↑ "New Zealand Transport Ships". http://flotilla-australia.com/hmnzt.htm. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
- ↑ Gamble (2006), p.76.
References
- Gamble, Bruce (2006). Darkest Hour: The True Story of Lark Force at Rabaul—Australia's Worst Military Disaster of World War II. St. Paul, MN: Zenith Press. ISBN 0760323496.
