History | |
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United Kingdom | |
Name: | Dunedin Star |
Namesake: | Dunedin, New Zealand |
Owner: | Union Cold Storage Ltd |
Operator: | Blue Star Line |
Port of registry: | London |
Builder: | Cammell Laird, Birkenhead |
Yard number: | 1009 |
Launched: | 29 October 1935 |
Completed: | February 1936 |
Identification: |
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Fate: |
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General characteristics | |
Class and type: | refrigerated cargo ship |
Tonnage: | |
Length: | |
Beam: | 70.4 ft (21 m) |
Draught: | 43 ft 4 in (13.2 m) |
Depth: | 32.3 ft (10 m) |
Installed power: | 2,516 NHP |
Propulsion: |
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Capacity: | cargo + 21 passengers |
Crew: | 85 |
Sensors and processing systems: |
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Armament: | DEMS |
Service record | |
Operations: | Operation Halberd, 1941 |
MV Dunedin Star was a UK refrigerated cargo liner. She was built by Cammell Laird and Co in 1935–36 as one of Blue Star Line's Imperial Star-class ships, designed to ship frozen meat from Australia and New Zealand to the United Kingdom. She served in the Second World War and is distinguished for her role in Operation Halberd to relieve the siege of Malta in September 1941.
Dunedin Star was lost at the end of November 1942 when she ran aground in the South Atlantic on the Skeleton Coast of South-West Africa. A complex sea, air and land operation overcame many setbacks and rescued all of her passengers, crew and gunners. An aircraft, a tug and two of the tug's crew were lost in rescue attempts. It took a month for the last of Dunedin Star's crew to reach Cape Town, and more than two months for the last of the rescuers to return.
Cammell Laird and Co in Birkenhead, England built Dunedin Star, launching her on 29 October 1935 and completing her in February 1936. She was owned by Union Cold Storage, a ship-owning company controlled by Blue Star Line.
The Imperial Star class were motor ships. Dunedin Star had a pair of 9-cylinder two-stroke single-acting Sulzer Bros marine Diesel engines developing a total of 2,516 NHP and driving twin screws. Her navigation equipment included wireless direction finding, an echo sounding device and a gyrocompass.