Owner P&O 1931-1961 Yard number 534 Launched 20 May 1931 Draft 9.07 m | Ordered 25 June 1930 Construction started 9 September 1930 Length 166 m | |
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Name RMS CorfuSS CorfuSS Corfu Maru Builder Alexander Stephen and Sons | ||
RMS Corfu was a Royal Mail Ship and ocean liner operated by the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. Known as one of the 'Far East Sisters', she was launched in 1931 to serve the company's India and Far East Mail Service, along with her sister ship, the RMS Carthage. Both ships were built by Alexander Stephen & Sons Ltd in Glasgow, Scotland and served from 1931 until 1961 when they were scrapped in Japan.
World War II
In September 1939 Corfu was requisitioned by the British Admiralty and armed with eight 6-inch guns as part of her conversion to an armed merchant cruiser. She served as in this role as HMS Corfu until February 1944, and as a troop transport from then until the end of World War II. On 10 July 1940 she collided with HMS Hermes ( Royal Navy) in the Atlantic Ocean and was damaged and abandoned. She was reboarded later in the day and subsequently taken in tow by HMS Milford and the tug Donau ( Netherlands) and reached Freetown, Sierra Leone on 13 July. She was beached on 19 August for repairs to her bow and re-entered service in early 1941. In 1947 she was returned to her owners. She operated from Tilbury, London to Sydney as P&O Corfu in the 1950s