HMAT Shropshire

Shropshire / Rotorua

The transport ship Shropshire carrying troops to England[1]
History
New Zealand
Name	Shropshire
Operator	Federal Steam Navigation Company
Builder	John Brown & Company, Clydebank, Glasgow, Scotland
Yard number	400
Launched	27 April 1911
Completed	19 September 1911
Maiden voyage	1912
In service	28 October 1911
Out of service	1923
Fate	Transferred to the New Zealand Shipping Company[2]
New Zealand
Name	Rotorua
Operator	New Zealand Shipping Company
Acquired	1923
Out of service	11 December 1940
Fate	Torpedoed and sunk by the German U-Boat U-96 on 11 December 1940[2]
General characteristics
Class and type	Passenger/cargo steamship
Tonnage	11,911 tons
Length	526 ft 5 in (160.45 m)
Beam	61 ft 5 in (18.72 m)
Depth of hold	33 ft 4 in (10.16 m)
Propulsion	Twin screw
Speed	14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)

HMAT Shropshire (His Majesty's Australian Transport), originally SS Shropshire, was a 11,911-ton vessel, built by John Brown and Company in Clydebank, Glasgow, for the Federal Steam Navigation Company.[2] She was employed on passenger and meat trade between New Zealand and Great Britain, but due to the First World War, she was converted into a troopship.[3][4] She was leased by the Australian Commonwealth Government until 5 August 1917, when the British Admiralty took over control of the ship.

Time as a troopship

Group portrait of officers of the Australian Field Artillery, in front of the Great Sphinx and pyramids at Giza, Egypt. All the officers embarked on HMAT Shropshire from Melbourne on 20 October 1914.

HMAT Shropshire undertook the following journeys as a troopship in World War I:[2][5][1]

• 20 October 1914 from Melbourne[6]
• 17/20 March 1915 from Sydney/Melbourne to Alexandria
• 20 August 1915 from Sydney
• 31 March 1916 from Fremantle to Port Suez
• 25 September 1916 from Melbourne
• 11 May 1917 from Melbourne

Later use and fate

In 1923, the ship was renamed Rotorua for the New Zealand Shipping Company.[2] On 11 December 1940, it became a casualty of World War Two, when it was torpedoed by the German U-boat submarine U-49 off St Kilda, with 104 rescued and 21 lives lost.

See also

• SS Rotorua (1910)

References

1. "The transport ship SS Shropshire carrying troops to England". awm.gov.au. Australia: Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
2. "HMAT A9 Shropshire". birtwistlewiki.com.au. Australia. 14 October 2021. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
3. "HMAT A9 Shropshire during the Great War". The Wartime Memories Project. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
4. "Troopships – The Forgotten Ships of WW1". sea.museum. Australian Government. 13 February 2014. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
5. "AWM244 Shropshire – Troopship movement cards, 1914–18 War: HMAT Shropshire (A9)". awm.gov.au. Australia: Australian War Memorial. 14 October 2021. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
6. Lyall, Hilda (1914). "HMAT Shropshire and HMAT Wiltshire sail from Port Melbourne. Aboard the Shropshire is 1277 Gunner ..." awm.gov.au. Australia: Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 15 October 2023.