RMS Mooltan

Mooltan under way
History
United Kingdom
Name:	RMS Mooltan (1923–39, 1941–54) HMS Mooltan (F75) (1939–41)
Namesake:	Multan, Punjab
Owner:	P&O Steam Navigation Co
Operator:	P&O SN Co (1923–39, 1941–54) Royal Navy (1939–41)
Port of registry:	Belfast
Route:	Tilbury — Australia
Ordered:	29 November 1918
Builder:	Harland & Wolff, Belfast
Yard number:	587
Launched:	15 February 1923
Completed:	22 September 1923
Maiden voyage:	5 October 1923
Identification:	UK official number: 145435 code letters: KPNG (until 1933) call sign: GFBC (from 1934)
Fate:	scrapped 1954
General characteristics
Tonnage:	20,847 GRT tonnage under deck 17,305 12,823 NRT 16,032 DWT
Length:	600.8 ft (183.1 m)pp
Beam:	73.4 ft (22.4 m)
Draught:	34 ft 10 in (10.6 m)
Depth:	48.6 ft (14.8 m)
Decks:	5
Installed power:	after 1929: 2,878 NHP; 15,300 shp (11,400 kW)
Propulsion:	8 oil-fired 215 psi (1,480 kPa) boilers 2 × 4-cylinder quadruple-expansion steam engines plus (after 1929) turbo generators & electric motors twin screws
Speed:	(after 1929) 17.5 kn (32.4 km/h)
Capacity:	Passengers: 327 first class 329 second class
Crew:	423: 10 officers 94 seamen 22 engineers 82 firemen 215 saloon crew plus 174 gunners (during the Second World War)
Armament:	2 × BL 6 inch Mk XII naval guns 2 × QF 3 inch 20 cwt anti-aircraft guns 1 × Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft gun 10 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannon anti-aircraft guns 4 × .303 calibre Hotchkiss machine guns 1 × rocket launcher 1 × barrage balloon

P&O SN Co (1923–39, 1941–54)

after 1929: 2,878 NHP;

RMS Mooltan was an ocean liner and Royal Mail Ship of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O). She was ordered in 1918 and completed in 1923. She served in the Second World War first as the armed merchant cruiser HMS Mooltan (F75) and then as a troop ship. She was retired from P&O service in 1953 and scrapped in 1954.

Mooltan was unusual in combining both quadruple-expansion steam engines and turbo-electric transmission. When completed in 1923 she had only her quadruple-expansion engines, but in 1929 turbo generators and electric propulsion motors were added alongside them to increase her speed.

P&O ordered Mooltan and her sister RMS Maloja from Harland and Wolff Ltd on 29 November 1918.Mooltan was given yard number 587. She was launched on 15 January 1923, completed on 22 September 1923, undertook sea trials and was handed over to her owners on 21 September 1923.

She was named Mooltan after the city of Multan in the Punjab, and an earlier "RMS Mooltan (1905-1917)", that was lost to enemy action in 1917, which was in turn named after a still earlier "SS Mooltan (1861-1884)", a Peninsular and Oriental Company's screw steamer whose maiden voyage was from Southampton in 1861. This ship was withdrawn from service in 1874 and laid up in London. In 1880, she was sold to Messrs Elles & Co of Liverpool, and again to J. J. Wallace of London. In 1884 she was sold again, this time to J. Pedley of London, and renamed the "Eleanor Margaret" and underwent conversion to a four masted barque. In 1888 sold yet again to J. D. Bischoff of Bremen. In 1891, she sailed from Newcastle upon Tyne for Valparaiso, and was reported missing in the North Atlantic. Last known position being 45°N, 25°W.

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