| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Builder | R. & W. Hawthorn Leslie and Company |
| Launched | 13 September 1924 |
| Acquired | September 1939 |
| Commissioned | December 1939 |
| Reclassified | Armed merchant cruiser |
| Fate | Broken up in 1961 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage |
|
| Length | 547 ft (167 m) |
| Beam | 71 ft (22 m) |
| Propulsion | quad expansion steam engine |
| Speed | 17 knots (31 km/h) |
| Complement | 323 (as armed cruiser) |
| Armament |
|
| Armor | none |
TheSSRanpura was a British passenger and cargo carryingocean liner built byR. & W. Hawthorn Leslie and Company atNewcastle upon Tyne for thePeninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company in 1924. She was the first of the P&O 'R' class liners that had much of their interiors designed byLord Inchcape's daughterElsie Mackay.[1] She was launched 13 September 1924 and sponsored by C.C. Straker, wife of the chairman of Hawthorn Leslie and Company.[1]
In 1936, she was assigned to transport $50 million (1936 prices) worth of Chinese artwork fromLondon toShanghai. The art had been on display in England as part of the largest exhibit of Chinese art to appear in England to that point. On 14 April, she encountered a storm offGibraltar and ran aground in thePunta Mala after dragging anchor.[2] She was refloated without damage on 16 April and resumed her trip to China.[3]
She was requisitioned into theRoyal Navy on the onset ofWorld War II and finished conversion 30 November 1939 as thearmed merchant cruiserHMSRanpura. The installation of eightsix-inch guns gave her the firepower of alight cruiser without thearmoured protection.
Her sister shipsSSRawalpindi,SSRanchi andSSRajputana were also converted to armed merchant cruisers. Except forsmall corvettes, the converted passenger ships like HMSRanpura were the only armed protection for most of the early convoys. With their six-inch (152 mm) guns, they were the only escorts that could engage German surface ships. After conversion,Ranpura was assigned to the Mediterranean, where she served until February 1940, when she was transferred to the South Atlantic.[4] She served with theHalifax Escort Force in May 1940, then was assigned in March 1941 as part of the force transferring gold from Britain to Canada for safekeeping during the war. After October 1941, she transferred to the Indian Ocean.[4]
HMSRanpura (F93) was sold to theAdmiralty in 1943 and converted to arepair ship. She served in theRoyal Navy as afleet depot ship until 1961, when she was broken up.[5] She took part in the 1956Suez Crisis.[6]