SS Batory
MS Batory postcard
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| Class overview | |
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| Completed: | 2 |
| History | |
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| Name: | M.S. Batory |
| Namesake: | King Stefan Batory |
| Owner: |
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| Port of registry: | Gdynia, Poland |
| Ordered: | 29 November 1933 |
| Builder: | Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico, Monfalcone |
| Yard number: | 1127 |
| Laid down: | 1 May 1934 |
| Launched: | 3 July 1935 |
| Acquired: | 23 April 1936 |
| In service: | 17 May 1936 |
| Out of service: | 2 June 1971 |
| Identification: | Radio Callsign SPEE |
| Nickname(s): | Lucky Ship |
| Fate: | scrapped |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | ocean liner |
| Tonnage: | 14 287 GRT |
| Length: | 160.4 m (526.25 ft) |
| Beam: | 21.6 m (70.87 ft) |
| Draught: | 7.5 m (24.6 ft) |
| Decks: | 4 + 3 in superstucture |
| Installed power: | two Sulzer 2SSA 9-cylinder diesel engines, 12 680 hp (12 500 hp from April 1947) |
| Propulsion: | 2 screws |
| Speed: | 18 knots |
| Capacity: |
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| Crew: |
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M.S. Batory was an ocean liner of the Polish merchant fleet, named after Stefan Batory, the famous sixteenth-century king of Poland.
The liner survived World War II and became known as a "Lucky Ship" due to her wartime successes. She took part in many military actions, including evacuation of the French-Polish-British corps from Narvik (1940), evacuation of allied troops from St. Nazaire and St. Jean de Luz (1940), invasion of Algier and Sicily (1942), military voyages to India (1943), six months services as a troop carrier from Egypt to Italy (1943), and the invasion of southern France.
During many years of service, Batory carried out 222 round trips across the oceans, first on the New York City run, later the India Line and finally the Canadian Line, carrying over 270,000 passengers altogether. She also performed about 75 cruises, tourist trips, and transportation of children to Poland for summer holidays with over 30,000 passengers taking part. During her wartime service of over six years, she carried about 120,000 soldiers. She visited about 150 ports in all parts of the globe.
Following her services for the country, she became the pride of the Polish Ocean Lines and the Polish navy.
Batory was built at the Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico Monfalcone Shipyard in Trieste, Italy, under an arrangement where part of her payment was made in shipments of coal from Poland. She was among the most notable tourist attractions of the Polish seaside and among the best-known Polish ships of the time. The vessel was launched on 3 July 1935. The ship was powered by two sets of Burmeister and Wain diesel engines driving two screws giving a speed of 18 knots. She began regular service in May 1936 on the Gdynia—New York run, and by 1939 she had carried over 30,000 passengers.
Mobilized at the outbreak of World War II, she served as a troop transport and a hospital ship by the Allied Navy for the rest of the war. In 1940 she, along with MS Chrobry, transported allied troops to Norway. She was also responsible for secretly shipping many valuable Polish treasures to Canada for safekeeping. She participated in the evacuation of Dunkirk late May early June, taking aboard 2,500 persons. Later she carried as many as 6,000 people in one evacuation. In June to July, she secretly transported much of Britain's gold reserves (₤40 million) from Greenock, Scotland to Montreal, Canada for safekeeping. On 4 August 1940 she left Liverpool with convoy WS 2 (Winston's Specials) transporting 480 children to Sydney, Australia, under the Children's Overseas Reception Board for safekeeping until the war was over. She sailed via Cape Town, India, Singapore (where she disembarked 300 troops) and Sydney. The journey had been a happy one, with so much music and laughter that the Batory was dubbed the "Singing Ship" and was the subject of a book of the same name.
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Wikipedia