SS Nairana
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Nairana in dazzle camouflage
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| History | |
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 Australia
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| Name: | Nairana |
| Namesake: | Golden eagle |
| Owner: | Huddart Parker |
| Ordered: | 22 January 1914 |
| Builder: | William Denny and Brothers, Dumbarton, Scotland |
| Cost: | £129,830 |
| Laid down: | 1914 |
| Launched: | 21 June 1915 |
| Fate: | Purchased by Royal Navy, 27 February 1917 |
 United Kingdom
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| Name: | HMS Nairana |
| Cost: | £138,118 |
| Acquired: | 27 February 1917 |
| Commissioned: | 25 August 1917 |
| Fate: | Sold to original owner, January 1921 |
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| Owner: | Huddart Parker |
| Acquired: | 1921 |
| Identification: |
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| Fate: | Transferred to Tasmanian Steamers, January 1922 |
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| Owner: | Tasmanian Steamers |
| Port of registry: | Melbourne |
| Acquired: | January 1922 |
| Out of service: | February 1948 |
| Identification: |
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| Fate: | Wrecked 18 February 1951 and scrapped 1953–54 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Seaplane carrier |
| Displacement: | 3,070 long tons (3,120 t) |
| Length: | |
| Beam: | 45.6 ft (13.9 m) |
| Draught: | 13 ft 2 in (4.0 m) (mean) |
| Installed power: |
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| Propulsion: | 2 × shafts, 2 × geared steam turbines |
| Speed: | 19.5 knots (36.1 km/h; 22.4 mph) |
| Range: | 1,060 nmi (1,960 km; 1,220 mi) at 19.5 kn (36.1 km/h; 22.4 mph) |
| Complement: | 278 |
| Armament: | 4 × 76 mm (3.0 in) 12 cwt guns |
| Aircraft carried: | 7–8 |
| Aviation facilities: | 1 × flying-off deck forward |
Coordinates: 37°50′27″S 144°55′13″E / 37.8407°S 144.9204°E
HMS Nairana (/naɪˈrɑːnə/) was a passenger ferry that was requisitioned by the Royal Navy (RN) as a seaplane carrier in 1917. She was laid down in Scotland in 1914 as TSS Nairana for the Australian shipping line Huddart Parker, but construction was suspended after the outbreak of the First World War. Following resumption of work, the ship was launched in 1915, and converted to operate wheeled aircraft from her forward flying-off deck, as well as floatplanes that were lowered into the water. She saw service during the war with the Grand Fleet, and in 1918–19 supported the British intervention in the Russian Civil War.
Nairana was returned to her former owners in 1921 and refitted in her original planned configuration, and spent the next 27 years ferrying passengers and cargo between Tasmania and Melbourne. She was twice struck by rogue waves in Bass Strait, and nearly capsized on both occasions. Nairana was the only Bass Strait ferry not requisitioned for military service in the Second World War, and so became the sole passenger ship with service to Tasmania during the conflict. She was laid up in 1948, wrecked in a storm three years later and scrapped in situ in 1953–54.
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Wikipedia