SS Pulaski

SS Czar in port before May 1920
History
Name:	SS Czar ('Царь')
Namesake:	the Czar, the ruler of Imperial Russia
Owner:	1912–1930: East Asiatic Company 1930–1946: Gdynia America Line 1946–1949: Ministry of War Transport
Operator:	1912–1917: Russian American Line 1917: Wilson Line 1917–1920: Cunard Line 1920–1930: Baltic American Line 1930–1939: Gdynia America Line 1940: Fabre Line 1940–1949: Lamport & Holt
Port of registry:	1912–1917: Libau, Russia 1917–1920: London 1920–1930: Copenhagen 1930–1946: Gdynia 1946–1949: Liverpool
Route:	1912–1914: Libau – New York 1920–1930: Libau – Danzig – Copenhagen – New York 1930–1935: Danzig – New York 1935–1939: Gdynia – Buenos Aires 1940: Marseille–Dakar
Builder:	Barclay, Curle & Company Glasgow, Scotland
Launched:	23 March 1912
Maiden voyage:	Libau – Copenhagen – New York, 30 May 1912
Renamed:	SS Estonia, January 1921 SS Pułaski, April 1930 SS Empire Penryn, 16 April 1946
Fate:	Scrapped at Blyth, Northumberland, 1949
General characteristics
Type:	ocean liner
Tonnage:	6,503 GT
Length:	425 ft (130 m)
Beam:	53.2 ft (16.2 m)
Propulsion:	two steam engines two screw propellers
Speed:	15 knots (28 km/h)
Capacity:	Passengers (as built): 30 first class 260 second class 1,086 third class and steerage
Troops:	2,050 (World War II)
Notes:	two funnels; two masts

SS Czar, or Царь in Russian, was an ocean liner for the Russian American Line before World War I. The ship was later known as Estonia for the Baltic American Line, Pułaski for the Gdynia America Line and as a British Ministry of War Transport troopship, and as Empire Penryn after World War II. The liner was built in Glasgow for the Russian American Line in 1912 and sailed on North Atlantic routes from Libau to New York. On one eastbound voyage in October 1913, Czar was one of ten ships that came to the aid of the burning Uranium Line steamer Volturno.

After the Russian Revolution, the ship came under the control of the British Shipping Controller and was managed by the Wilson Line and later, the Cunard Line. Under Cunard management in 1918 as HMTCzar, she was employed as a troopship carrying United States troops to France as part of the United States Navy's Cruiser and Transport Force. After the end of World War I, the ship was returned to the East Asiatic Company, the parent company of the Russian American Line, who placed her on their Baltic American Line sailing in roundtrip passenger service to New York under the name Estonia. She was sold to the Polish Gdynia America Line in 1930, and renamed SS Pułaski the following year for Polish passenger service to North and South America.

After the outbreak of World War II, Pułaski was initially used as a French and, after the Fall of France, a British troopship. Pułaski sailed variously in the North Atlantic, between African ports, and in the Indian Ocean. In 1946, the ship's name was changed to Empire Penryn and continued trooping duties under the management of Lamport & Holt. She was scrapped in 1949 at Blyth.