The RMMV Reina del
Pacifico was the largest and fastest motor liner of her time and was
the Pacific Steam Navigation Company's largest ship and the first with
a white hull. She served on their route from Liverpool to the Caribbean
and South America, via the Panama Canal.
Design
and Construction (1930 – 1931):
When
launched on 23rd
September 1930 she was PSNC's largest ship, the first with a white hull
and the
first passenger ship with a name which didn't begin with 'O'. The Reina
del
Pacifico was the largest and fastest motor liner and sailed on the
route from
Europe to Bermuda, Bahamas, Havana,
Jamaica,
Panama Canal and South America.
Prewar
Era (1931 – 1939):
After a 3
day shake down
cruise in the North Sea she commenced her maiden voyage on 9th April
1931 from
Liverpool - La Rochelle - Vigo
- Bermuda - Bahamas
- Havana - Jamaica
- Panama Canal - Guayaquil - Callao
- Antofagasta - Valparaiso. The total passage time
was 25.5
days. On 19th January 1932 she recommenced a 'Round South America' which was undertaken once
annually. In 1936 she completed
the voyage to Valparaiso
in a record 25 days.
On the 9th
November
1937 as the Reina del Pacifico was slowly ploughing its way south
through the
Atlantic Ocean toward Bermuda and South America,
most of the passengers were just finishing a hearty dinner. In London
at the same instant most of the political bigwigs of Britain
were finishing an even
heartier one, the annual Lord Mayor's banquet. Too ill to eat his own
was the
Reina's most distinguished passenger, James Ramsay MacDonald, the
former
British Prime Minister. He was suffering from melancholia, and had been
sent on
holiday to South America on board the
Reina
del Pacifico with his youngest daughter, Sheila, to recuperate. He was
the
founder of the Labour Party and was the first person to bring it to a
position
of importance in British affairs. He served as British Prime Minister
three
times and was an intimate personal friend of King George V. Sadly at
8:45 he
quietly died of heart failure on board the Reina del Pacifico at the
age of 71.
His body
was taken ashore at
Bermuda and brought to the Cathedral in Hamilton
to lie in state overnight. The next day, during a solemn procession on Front Street,
which
attracted some 20,000 local spectators, one of the largest crowds ever
to
converge in the city, Royal Navy and Royal Marine bearers carried
MacDonald's
flag-draped coffin to the Royal Naval Dockyard tug Sandboy, for
transport to
HMS Apollo, waiting to receive it in the Great Sound. The naval
vessel
then steamed off to England
returning the body of Ramsey MacDonald. He was buried in his beloved
Lossiemouth in Scotland,
beside his still more beloved wife, Margaret Ethel, who died in 1911.
Second
World War service (1939 – 1947):
On 3rd
August 1939, after
arriving at Liverpool, she was despatched to the Clyde
where she was put on standby pending the outbreak of war. When war was
declared
on 3rd September she left the Clyde as part of a 17 ship convoy bound
for the Far East. After one voyage to
Halifax
in December 1939 she returned to Liverpool
where she was converted into a troopship. On 11th April she sailed from
the
Clyde with four other troopships bound for Harstad in Norway
and the
Bygden Fjord where they steamed in circles for two hours while the
Fjord was
depth charged by the escorts. She was bombed during the embarkation but
suffered no damage. In the following May she returned to Norway to evacuate troops and then
proceeded to West Africa.
On 24th
July 1940 she joined
the “Winston Specials” convoys and sailed for Suez
via Cape Town
with RAF personnel, their Spitfires being carried by the accompanying
aircraft
carrier Argus. She repeated the same voyage on 14th November.
In January
1941 she carried the 4th Indian Division from Suez
to Port Sudan
from where the troops proceeded to Ethopia. Back in Avonmouth by the
March she
was bombed for three successive nights but suffered no damage. Moved to
the Clyde she was bombed again but
incurred no damage. On
22nd March 1941 and loaded with troops she struck a submerged object in
the
Bristol Channel and shed a propeller forcing her to return to Liverpool
for repairs. Whilst in Liverpool she was subjected to air attacks on
15th April
but although a delayed action bomb exploded in the water alongside she
suffered
no damage and left on time with troops bound for Cape Town. After a second voyage to South Africa she undertook North
Atlantic
crossings out of Halifax before
commencing a
voyage from Liverpool - Cape Town - Bombay - Colombo
- Liverpool. On 12th April 1942 she
repeated the voyage to Colombo.
She made one
trip to North America on 6th August to fetch US and Canadian troops and
when
she returned to Liverpool she was dry
docked,
repainted and the lifeboats replaced with landing craft.
On 13th
September she
proceeded to the Clyde and, together
with
other troopships, commenced practice landing operations. These
continued until
17th October when a full rehearsal for the North
Africa
landings were undertaken at Loch Linne. On 21st October she embarked
troops for
the 'Z' landing at Oran and as flagship
to
Senior Naval Officer Landing proceeded to the Mediterranean.
As the Algiers force had to be 24 hours
ahead of
the Oran
force
the Reina del Pacifico, at one stage, had to steam on a reverse
course
for 8 hours so that she could sail through the Straits of Gibraltar in
darkness. At 15.30hrs on 7th November she met up with the equipment
ships and
then, at 20.00hrs, rendez-voused with the marker submarine. By 23.30hrs
she was
in position, one of 102 ships assembled for the landing operation. At
07.00hrs
on the following morning her landing craft were disembarked and went to
the
assembly area where they proceeded ashore. The Reina del Pacifico
later
berthed in Oran
harbour. By 24th November she was back in the Clyde embarking
reinforcements
for Algiers.
On
5th January 1943 she took reinforcements to Oran
and later in the year, on 5th May, arrived at Suez
to begin practicing for the Sicily
landings. On 29th June she embarked the 51st Highland Division landing
them at Avola Beach,
Sicily
on 10th July. She then sailed to Malta
before proceeding to Oran
where she evacuated 500 German prisoners of war. During this time she
was twice
attacked by the Luftwaffe. On 23rd July she arrived back in the Clyde.
In the
following August she
carried King Peter of Yugoslavia, together with his entourage, from
Liverpool
to Suez from where she proceeded to Taranto and Port Augustus with
troops. When
she was in Sicily
she embarked the U. S. First Division H. Q. Staff for passage to Britain where they began preparations
for the Normandy
landings.
On 15th
November 1943 she
sailed form Liverpool to Bombay
in a convoy of 20 ships carrying troops. The convoy was attacked on
26th
November by 60 aircraft and Lamport and Holt's Delius was the
only loss.
Three days later the convoy was again attacked by 24 JU 88's but
although they
scored several hits no ships were lost. In January 1944 she sailed on a
trooping voyage to East Africa and then spent ten months ferrying
troops in the Mediterranean. In
December of
1944 she sailed
from Liverpool to New York with a
call in Iceland
before
going to the Pacific where she continued trooping duties until the end
of
hostilities. During 1946 she was deployed as a Repatriation ship
sailing some
350,000 miles and returning some 150,000 men and women of over 20
nationalities
to their homelands.
Final
Years (1947 – 1958):
In January
1947 she returned
to her builders where she was refurbished. As her fittings, removed
when she
was converted for war duties, had been destroyed during the bombing new
furniture was installed. Her sea trials commenced on 10th September and
on the
following day the outer No.2 engine overheated and blew up killing 28
engine
room personnel. She returned to service in 1948 on the Liverpool - Valparaiso
service, a
year later than anticipated. On 8th July 1957 she went aground on
Devil's Flat, Bermuda and came off
two days
later without
incurring any damage. In the following November she lost a propeller in
Havana and a new one was delivered
by the Salinas.
On 27th April 1958 she sailed
on her last voyage before being withdrawn from service and subsequent
scrapping
at the BISCO yard of John Cashmore at Newport
in Monmouthshire.
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