Name TSS Hantonia Out of service 7 June 1952 Launched 23 December 1911 Draft 4.66 m Builder Govan | Yard number 482 Fate Scrapped Length 88 m Beam 11 m | |
Operator 1911-1948London and South Western Railway
1923-1948Southern Railway
1948-1952British Railways Tonnage 1,567 gross register tons (GRT) | ||
TSS Hantonia was a passenger vessel built for the London and South Western Railway in 1911.
History
The ship was built by the Fairfield Govan and launched on 23 December 1911 as Louvima, but in January 1912 renamed Hantonia. With her sister ship Normannia they were put on the service between Southampton and Le Havre. They were the first cross-channel steamers to be fitted with single-reduction geared Parsons' turbines, which gave the vessels a speed of over 20 knots but also cut down on the vibration experienced by cross-Channel passengers.
She was requisitioned by the Admiralty in 1914 and operated as a troopship during the First World War.
She was acquired by the Southern Railway in 1923.
In 1939 she was requisitioned by the Admiralty and transported troops between Folkestone and Calais until January 1940. She was then a Royal Navy accommodation ship until 1945. She returned to railway service in 1945 and we deployed on the Channel Islands service, where she returned children who had been evacuated before the German Invasion. From 1946 returned to the Southampton to Le Havre service. In 1948 she was acquired by British Railways and was scrapped in 1952.