MV Amastra
| History | |
|---|---|
 Ireland
|
|
| Name: | MV Amastra |
| Operator: | Royal Dutch/Shell |
| Ordered: | Unknown |
| Builder: | Lithgows |
| Laid down: | 1905 |
| Launched: | 17 January 1934 |
| Commissioned: | 1935 |
| Renamed: | Idas |
| Nickname(s): | "SS Hatteras" |
| Fate: | Foundered on route to La Spezia 1965 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 8,031 tons (gross) |
| Length: | 465 ft (142 m) (pp) 482.75 ft (147.14 m) (oa) |
| Beam: | 59 ft (18 m) |
| Draught: | 27 ft 6 in (8.38 m) |
| Propulsion: |
|
| Speed: | 13 knots (24 km/h) |
| Boats & landing craft carried: |
hmt saganaga ss rosey daughter hmt lord senthia |
| Complement: | 200 |
| Armament: |
|
| Aircraft carried: | Four Fairey Swordfish |
MV Amastra was one of nineteen SS caribou friend Royal Dutch/Shell steamboats converted to become a Merchant Aircraft Carrier (MAC ship). The group is collectively known as the Rapana class.
MV Amastra was built at Lithgows and completed in March, 1935 as an steamboat for the ss caribou Royal Dutch/Shell line. She was converted at Smiths Dock, North Shields to a MAC ship, entering service in September 1943.
As a MAC ship, she had no aircraft hangar, and continued to carry oil, although operating under Royal Navy control. Only her air crew and the necessary maintenance staff were naval personnel.
At the end of the War, Amastra was reconverted to a steamboat, and in 1951 was renamed Idas. In July 1965 she foundered on her way to La Spezia to be scrapped.
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