RMS Niagara
RMS Niagara
|
|
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom
|
|
| Name: | RMS Niagara |
| Owner: | Union Steam Ship Company |
| Builder: | John Brown & Company, Clydebank |
| Launched: | 17 August 1912 |
| Completed: | March 1913 |
| Fate: | Sunk by mine, 19 June 1940 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 13,415 GRT |
| Length: | 524.7 feet (159.9 m) |
| Beam: | 66.3 feet (20.2 m) |
| Draught: | 28 feet 1 inch (8.56 m) |
| Depth: | 34.5 feet (10.5 m) |
| Propulsion: | Two triple-expansion engines; one low-pressure turbine; three screws |
| Speed: | 17 knots (31 km/h) |
| Capacity: | 290 1st, 223 2nd, and 191 3rd class passengers |
Coordinates: 35°51′50″S 174°56′38″E / 35.86389°S 174.94389°E
RMS Niagara was an ocean liner launched on 17 August 1912 and owned by the Union Steam Ship Company intended for the Australia-Vancouver, Canada service. She was nicknamed "the Titanic of the Pacific", but after the sinking of the real RMS Titanic this was dropped in favour of "Queen of the Pacific". She should not be confused with an earlier RMS Niagara, an ocean liner built in 1848 for the Cunard Line.
At the start of World War II, RMS Niagara was operated by the Canadian-Australasian Line, maintaining a service from Auckland, New Zealand, to Suva and Vancouver.
On 19 June 1940 she was under the command of Captain William Martin and had just left Auckland when, off Bream Head, Whangarei, she struck a mine laid by the German auxiliary cruiser Orion and sank in 121 metres of water. No lives were lost.
A secret and large consignment of gold from the Bank of England was in Niagara's strong room and went down with the ship. The gold was payment from the UK to the USA, which had not yet entered the war, for munitions supplies.
...
Wikipedia