Name RMS Andania Sponsored by Lady Perley Class and type "A"-class ocean liner Length 159 m | Owner Cunard Line Maiden voyage 1 June 1922 Launched 1 November 1921 | |
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Fate Torpedoed 15 June 1940, sank 16 June 1940 Builders Hawthorn Leslie and Company, Hebburn | ||
RMS Andania was a British ocean liner launched in 1921. She was the first of six 14,000 ton "A"-class liners built for the Cunard Line in the early 1920s. The other ships were Antonia, Austonia, Aurania, Ascania, and Alaunia.
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Construction
The ship was constructed in Hebburn, England by the shipbuilders Hawthorn Leslie and Company, was 538 feet long, and weighed just under 14,000 tons. She could carry more than 1,700 passengers and required 270 crew. She firstly worked on the Hamburg to New York City route, and later between Liverpool and Montreal.
Use during WW II
At the start of World War II, Andania was requisitioned for use as an armed merchant cruiser (as was her sister ship Aurania) and armed with six old 6 in (152 mm) guns, two 3 in (76 mm) anti-aircraft guns and several machine guns. On 25 November 1939 she took up her naval duties as HMS Andania with the Northern Patrol.
Fate
At 23.30 on 15 June 1940 HMS Andania was hit by a torpedo fired by the German submarine U-A 70 miles (110 km) south of Reykjavík, Iceland. Three more torpedoes fired by U-A missed. Andania stayed afloat for several hours but was too damaged to be saved. She sank early on 16 June. While other ships of the Northern Patrol were in the vicinity - HMS Derbyshire was actually within visual range - they had strict orders not to risk rescue when a submarine was suspected nearby. However, the entire crew on the Andania was rescued by the Icelandic fishing vessel Skallagrimur.