SSMohamed Ali El-Kebir, formerlySSTeno, was one of a pair ofsteam turbineocean liners built in Scotland in 1922 for theChilean companyCSAV. She and hersister shipAconcagua ran betweenValparaíso andNew Yorkvia thePanama Canal until 1932, when CSAV was hit by theGreat Depression and surrendered the two ships to the Scottish shipbuilderLithgows to clear a debt.

In 1935 theEgyptian company KML bought and renamed both ships and put them on routes across the Mediterranean.Teno was renamedMohamed Ali El-Kebir after a former Egyptian monarch. In 1940 the British Government requisitioned both liners and had them converted intotroop ships. Within months of being converted,Mohamed Ali El-Kebir was sunk in theWestern Approaches by a German submarine with the loss of 96 people. However, her escortHMS Griffin drove away the submarine and rescued 766 survivors.

In April 1920 theChileanCompañía Sud Americana de Vapores (CSAV) ordered a pair of passenger and cargo liners for service betweenValparaíso andNew Yorkvia thePanama Canal. Construction was delayed, the ships were not completed until the latter part of 1922, and CSAV lost money as a result.^[2]

The first ship,Aconcagua, was launched on 11 February 1922^[3] and completed in August.^[2] Hersister ship was launched on 5 September 1922,^[1] completed in December^[4] and reached Chile in January 1923.^[2] She was to be named after the Chilean city ofBoroa,^[5] but she was launched asTeno after the Chilean city of that name about 120 miles (190 km) south of Valparaíso.

The two ships were built byScotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company ofGreenock on theFirth of Clyde, Scotland. Each had 18 corrugated furnaces with a combined grate area of 385 square feet (36 m²) that heated six single-ended boilers with a combined heating surface of 17,832 square feet (1,657 m²). These fed steam at 215lb_f/in² to foursteam turbines that drove twinpropeller shafts by single-reduction gearing. The turbines had a combined rating of 1,469NHP^[4] and gave the ship a speed of 17 knots (31 km/h).

By the timeAconcagua andTeno entered service they faced strong competition fromGrace Line, and CSAV reported losses in 1922 and 1923. However, from 1922 the Chilean government introduced protection measures for Chilean companies operating shipping services along the country's 2,300-nautical-mile (4,300 km)-long coast, and in 1923 global shipping rates stabilised.^[2]

TheWall Street crash of October 1929 started theGreat Depression, which sharply reduced the export market for Chilean mining products and hence the country's ability to buy goods from overseas. CSAV lost trade, and especially on its Valparaíso – New York route, so in June 1931 the company suspended the service.^[6] It soldAconcagua andTeno toLithgows ofPort Glasgow, and in August 1932 both ships returned to Scotland.^[7]

Aconcagua was sold to William Hamilton and Company, run byLord Ernest Hamilton,^[3] butTeno was laid up at theKyles of Bute, first atKames, Argyll and then offTighnabruaich.^[1] Lowden Conner and Company of Liverpool were appointed to manage both ships.^[8]

In 1935 the Khedivial Mail Steamship and Graving Dock Company ofAlexandria, Egypt bought bothAconcagua andTeno. The company, which traded as the Khedivial Mail Line (KML), renamed each ship after a formerKhedive of Egypt.Teno becameMohamed Ali El-Kebir, afterMuhammad Ali Pasha who reigned 1805–48. KML and operated services linking Alexandria across theMediterranean Sea withCyprus,Piraeus,Malta andMarseille. In 1936 the company was reconstituted as the Pharaonic Mail Line, but continued trading as the KML.^[9]

In 1938 KingFarouk of Egypt married his first wife,Queen Farida. They took part of their honeymoon aboardMohamed Ali El-Kebir.^[10]

After the Second World War broke out in 1939,Mohamed Ali El-Kebir sailed to Britain. En route she called atGibraltar where she joined ConvoyHG 4, which left on 22 October and reachedLiverpool on the 29th.^[11] She then returned to the Mediterranean and ran a regular service between Alexandria and Marseille until March 1940. Although Egypt was supposedly independent, in practice theBritish Empire controlled the country. In 1940 the UKMinistry of War Transport requisitioned seven KML ships and placed two of them,Khedive Ismail andMohamed Ali El-Kebir, under the management of theBritish-India Steam Navigation Company.^[9] Initially theAdmiralty usedMohamed Ali El-Kebir as aRoyal Navystores ship,^[5] but then she was converted into a troop ship, which increased hergross register tonnage andnet register tonnage by more than 200 tons.^[12]

In 1940Mohamed Ali El-Kebir again left the Mediterranean for Britain.En route she joined Convoy HG 36 at Gibraltar, which left on 28 June and reached Liverpool on 8 July.^[13] At the beginning of August 1940 she was inAvonmouth, where she loaded mail and government stores and embarked 697 troops bound for theMediterranean. There were six officers and 243 men of the 706th Construction Company,Royal Engineers, six officers and 289 men of the 15th Company,Royal Pioneer Corps, two officers and 44 ratings of the Royal Navy, 20Royal Marines, and 97 officers and men of theRoyal Artillery and theIntelligence Corps.^[5]

The ship left Avonmouth on 5 August, escorted by theG-class destroyerHMS Griffin. At 2140 hrs on 7 August the convoy was in theWestern Approaches about 230 nautical miles (430 km) west ofBloody Foreland inIreland, making a zigzag course at 15 knots (28 km/h) whenU-38 fired two stern-launched torpedoes at her. One hitMohamed Ali El-Kebir's starboard quarter, and she started to settle by the stern.Griffin attacked and chased away the submarine and then went to rescue survivors.Mohamed Ali El-Kebir had launched 11 lifeboats and more than 20liferafts, andGriffin then launched her twowhalers. The sea was rough, some of the lifeboats were swamped and some men were swept off the liferafts.^[10]

Mohamed Ali El-Kebir's civilianship's doctor, Stuart Liston, and a military medical officer remained aboard to treat many wounded men and prepare them for evacuation. HerMaster, John Thompson, remained aboard until after the last lifeboat was launched. He was last seen in a liferaft but did not survive. Dr Liston did not survive either.^[10]Griffin continued to releasedepth charges to keepU-38 away.Mohamed Ali El-Kebir sank at 2340 hrs; two hours after she was hit.^[5]

Griffin rescued 766 survivors, including 62 wounded. They were 549 troops, 154 Merchant Navy crew, 62 Royal Navy personnel and oneDEMS gunner. Some men were in the water for up to seven hours before they were found, and a number died ofhypothermia after being rescued.^[10] She continued to search the area for survivors until the next morning. She then took the survivors to Greenock, where she arrived on 9 August.^[5]

96 men were lost: 82 troops, four Royal Navy personnel, Captain Thompson and nine Merchant Navy crew. Over the next fortnight, 33 bodies were washed ashore on the coast ofCounty Donegal.^[5]

• de la Pedraja, Rene (1998).Oil and Coffee: Latin American Merchant Shipping from the Imperial Era to the 1950s. Westport, CT:Greenwood Publishing Group.ISBN 031330839X.
• Harnack, Edwin P (1938) [1903].All About Ships & Shipping (7th ed.). London:Faber and Faber.
• Talbot-Booth, E.C. (1936).Ships and the Sea (Third ed.). London:Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd.

55°22′N13°18′E / 55.367°N 13.300°E /55.367; 13.300