SSCorfu in June 1932
History
Name	RMSCorfu SSCorfu SSCorfu Maru
Owner	P&O 1931-1961
Port of registry	London
Route	London, Bombay, China
Ordered	25 June 1930
Builder	Alexander Stephen and Sons, Glasgow, Scotland
Yard number	534
Laid down	9 September 1930
Launched	20 May 1931
Maiden voyage	16 October 1931
Fate	Scrapped 17 October 1961 by Miyachi Salvage Co Ltd, at Osaka, Japan.
General characteristics
Tonnage	14,293 GRT
Length	543 feet (166 m)
Beam	71 feet 5 inches (21.77 m)
Draught	29 feet 9 inches (9.07 m)
Installed power	Six steam boilers, two turbines
Propulsion	Twin propellers
Speed	18 kn (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Capacity	177 First Class 214 Second Class
Notes	Originally proposed nameChefoo

RMSCorfu was aRoyal Mail Ship andocean liner operated by thePeninsular 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, theRMSCarthage. Both ships were built by Alexander Stephen & Sons Ltd in Glasgow, Scotland and served from 1931 until 1961 when they were scrapped in Japan.^[1][2]

In September 1939Corfu was requisitioned by theBritish Admiralty and armed with eight 6-inch guns as part of her conversion to anarmed merchant cruiser. She served as in this role as HMSCorfu until February 1944, and as a troop transport from then until the end of World War II. On 10 July 1940 she collided withHMS Hermes in the Atlantic Ocean and was damaged and abandoned. She was reboarded later in the day and subsequently taken in tow byHMS Milford and the Dutch tugDonau and reachedFreetown, Sierra Leone on 13 July. She was beached on 19 August for repairs to her bow and re-entered service in early 1941.^[3] On 7 October 1945Corfu docked at Southampton carrying the first 1,500 British prisoners of war to return from Japanese camps in the Far East.In 1947 she was returned to her owners.She operated fromTilbury to Sydney as P&OCorfu in the 1950s

• Smith, Andrew (1983). "Question 22/79".Warship International.XX (4):428–429.ISSN 0043-0374.

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