HMT Dunera
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Career (UK) |  |
|---|---|
| Builder: | Barclay Curle & Company, Glasgow |
| Launched: | 10 May 1937 |
| In service: | 25 August 1937 |
| Out of service: | 1967 |
| Homeport: | London |
| Fate: | Scrapped - 1967, Bilbao |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Troopship, educational cruise ship |
| Tonnage: | 11,161 gross; 6,634 net; 3,819 metric tons of deadweight (DWT) |
| Length: | 516 ft 10 in (157.5 m) |
| Beam: | 63 ft 3 in (19.3 m) |
| Draught: | 23 ft 5 in (7.1 m) |
| Propulsion: | Two five cylinder 2SCSA Doxford-type opposed piston oil engines, 11,880 bhp, twin screws, |
| Speed: | 16 knots |
| Capacity: | 104 First Class, 100 Second Class and 164 Third Class passengers, and 1,157 troops. |
His Majesty's Transport Dunera was a British passenger ship built as a troop transport in the late 1930s. She also operated as a passenger liner and as an educational cruise ship. Dunera saw extensive service throughout the Second World War.
After trials in 1937, she was handed over to the British-India Steam Navigation Company. In 1939, Dunera performed schools cruising service.
Contents |
[edit] War service
Dunera carried New Zealand troops to Egypt in January 1940.
[edit] "Dunera Boys"
Her next duty has become one of the most notorious events of British maritime history. The Dunera left Liverpool on 10 July 1940 with 2,542 men, classed as enemy aliens, who were considered a risk to British security, after the fall of France. Many of the internees, including those who had fled Europe to escape Nazi persecution, were thought to have been German agents, potentially helping to plan the invasion of Britain. Included were 2,036 Jewish refugees from Austria and Germany, 451 German and Italian prisoners of war and others[1]. The survivors of the Arandora Star disaster had been added to the transportees[2]. They were taken to Australia for internment in the rural towns of Hay, New South Wales and Tatura, Victoria Australia alongside those interned by Australia.
The ship had a maximum capacity of 1,500 - including crew - and the resultant conditions have been described as "inhumane".[citation needed] The transportees were also subjected to ill-treatment and theft by the 309 poorly trained British guards on board. The 57 day voyage was also made under the risk of enemy attack. On arrival in Sydney, the first Australian on board was medical army officer Alan Frost. He was appalled and his subsequent report led to the court martial of the army officer-in-charge, Lieutenant-Colonel William Scott[3]. The television movie The Dunera Boys depicts their experiences[4].
Among the transportees on the Dunera were Franz Stampfl, later the athletics coach to the four-minute-mile runner Roger Bannister, Wolf Klaphake, the inventor of synthetic camphor and the photographers Henry Talbot and Hans Axel. While interned in Australia, the internees set up an unofficial "university" to pass the time. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, they were reclassified as "friendly aliens" and released by the Australian Government; hundreds were recruited into the Australian Army. They were regarded as a welcome injection of talent to Australia and, when offered residency after the war, 1,000 stayed.
Her next notable services were the Madagascar operations in September 1942, the Sicily landings in July 1943 and in September 1944, she carried the headquarters staff for the US 7th Army for the invasion of southern France. After the Japanese surrender in 1945, Dunera transported occupation forces to Japan.
[edit] Post-war
In 1950/1951, Dunera was refitted by Barclay, Curle to improve her to postwar troopship specifications: her capacity was now 123 First Class, 95 Second Class, 100 Third Class and 831 troops; tonnages now 12,615 gross, 7,563 net and 3,675 tons deadweight.
The Ministry of Defence terminated Dunera's trooping charter in 1960 and she was refitted by Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company at Hebburn-on-Tyne in early 1961 for her new role as an educational cruise ship. New facilities (classrooms, swimming pool, games rooms, library and assembly rooms) were introduced. Her capacity became 187 cabin passengers and 834 children; tonnages 12,620 gross, 7,430 net.
In November 1967 she was sold to Revalorizacion de Materiales SA, and scrapped at Bilbao.
[edit] Notes and References
- ^ Robert Aufrichtig - Dunera Internee. Retrieved on 2007-11-23.
- ^ Maritime Disasters of World War II. Retrieved on 2007-11-23.
- ^ Connolly, Kate (May 19, 2006). Britons finally learn the dark Dunera secret. Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved on 2007-11-23.
- ^ The Dunera Boys synopsis. IMDB. Retrieved on 2007-11-23.
