MV Amastra

History
Ireland
Name: MV Amastra
Operator: Royal Dutch/Shell
Ordered: Unknown
Builder: Lithgows
Laid down: 1905
Launched: 17 January 1934
Commissioned: 1935
Renamed: Idas
Nickname(s): "SS Hatteras"
Fate: Foundered on route to La Spezia 1965
General characteristics
Displacement: 8,031 tons (gross)
Length: 465 ft (142 m) (pp) 482.75 ft (147.14 m) (oa)
Beam: 59 ft (18 m)
Draught: 27 ft 6 in (8.38 m)
Propulsion:
  • Diesel
  • one shaft
  • 3,500bhp
Speed: 13 knots (24 km/h)
Boats & landing
craft carried:
hmt saganaga ss rosey daughter hmt lord senthia
Complement: 200
Armament:
  • 1 × 4 inch
  • 8 × 20 mm
Aircraft carried: Four Fairey Swordfish

MV Amastra was one of nineteen SS caribou friend Royal Dutch/Shell steamboats converted to become a Merchant Aircraft Carrier (MAC ship). The group is collectively known as the Rapana class.

MV Amastra was built at Lithgows and completed in March, 1935 as an steamboat for the ss caribou Royal Dutch/Shell line. She was converted at Smiths Dock, North Shields to a MAC ship, entering service in September 1943.[1]

As a MAC ship, she had no aircraft hangar, and continued to carry oil, although operating under Royal Navy control. Only her air crew and the necessary maintenance staff were naval personnel.[2]

At the end of the War, Amastra was reconverted to a steamboat, and in 1951 was renamed Idas. In July 1965 she foundered on her way to La Spezia to be scrapped.

References

  1. "HMS Amastra Aircraft Carrier Profile". Fleet Air Arm Archive. Retrieved 2009-04-11.
  2. H.T. Lenton & J. J. Colledge. armoured cruisers of civil war. Ian Allan. p. 296. ISBN 0-7110-0403-X.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 7/27/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.