Manunda
Postcard of TSMV Manunda in Adelaide Steamship Co. livery (buff funnel with black band at top), c.1930
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| History | |
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 Australia
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| Name: | TSMV Manunda |
| Owner: | Adelaide Steamship Company, Melbourne |
| Builder: | William Beardmore and Company, Dalmuir |
| Yard number: | 651 |
| Launched: | 27 November 1928 |
| Completed: | 16 April 1929 |
| Acquired: | 23 May 1929 |
| In service: | June 1929 |
| Out of service: | September 1939 |
| In service: | April 1948 |
| Out of service: | September 1956 |
| Identification: | Official number: 153933 |
| Fate: | Sold, October 1956 |
 Australia - 2nd Australian Imperial Force
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| Name: | AHS Manunda |
| Acquired: | 25 May 1940 |
| In service: | 22 July 1940 |
| Out of service: | September 1946 |
| Fate: | Returned to owner, 1948 |
 Japan
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| Name: | Hakone Maru |
| Owner: | Okadagumi Shipping Ltd., Japan |
| Acquired: | October 1956 |
| Fate: | Broken up at Osaka, June 1957 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Passenger/cargo ship |
| Tonnage: | |
| Length: | 430 ft (130 m) |
| Beam: | 60 ft 2 in (18.34 m) |
| Depth: | 35 ft 7 in (10.85 m) |
| Propulsion: | Harland & Wolff oil-fired engines, 1,304 nhp |
| Speed: | 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
| Capacity: | 312 passengers (176 first class / 136 second class) |
TSMV Manunda was an Australian registered and crewed passenger ship which was converted to a hospital ship in 1940. During the war Manunda saw service in both the Middle East and Pacific Campaigns, specifically New Guinea. She resumed her passenger duties after the war, before being sold to a Japanese company and finally broken up in 1957.
In 1927 the Adelaide Steamship Company in Australia ordered a new 9,115 GRT liner to provide full-time Australian coastal passenger services, which had previously only been offered by the company on a limited scale.
The Twin Screw Motor Vessel Manunda was built by William Beardmore and Company at Dalmuir in Scotland. The vessel was 136 metres (446 ft) in length, with a beam of 18 metres (59 ft). Diesel motors provided power to the two propeller shafts, with a top speed of 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph). Passenger capacity was 176 first class and 136 second class.
The ship was launched on 27 November 1928, and completed on 16 April 1929. She was the largest ship operated by the Adelaide Steamship Company at the time, and as a result of her success the company commissioned a larger, faster sister ship, Manoora, which was completed in 1935.
She arrived in Australia in June 1929 to begin her duties on the Australian coastal trade, running passengers and cargo between Sydney, Fremantle, Melbourne and Cairns.
In late 1929, Manunda rammed Birkenhead Wharf in Adelaide.
The declaration of war saw Manunda fitted out as DEMS ship (Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship), under the control of the Australian Shipping Control Board. During the process of converting it into a hospital ship, the No. 1 Hold was deemed to be dangerous and never rectified. One death (Second Officer, Rupert Mafeking Blunt) and several officers were injured due to the complications with the design.
She was converted into a hospital ship at Sydney in compliance with the Geneva Convention Regulations and was taken over by the authorities on 25 May 1940, and entered service as AHS Manunda on 22 July 1940, under Captain James Garden, previously the captain of the Adelaide Steamship Company Manoora and Commodore of the Adelaide Steamship Fleet. The general hospital based on board was commanded by Lt. Col. John Beith, and members of the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) on board were led by Matron Clara Jane Shumack (1899–1974).
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Wikipedia