SS Rajputana
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom
|
|
| Builder: | Harland and Wolff Greenock |
| Yard number: | 661 |
| Laid down: | 1925 |
| Launched: | 1925 |
| Completed: | 30 December 1925 |
| Acquired: | September 1939 |
| Commissioned: | December 1939 |
| Out of service: | 13 April 1941 |
| Reclassified: | Armed merchant cruiser |
| Homeport: | London |
| Fate: | Torpedoed and sunk off Iceland in position 65°50′N 27°25′W / 65.833°N 27.417°WCoordinates: 65°50′N 27°25′W / 65.833°N 27.417°W |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: |
|
| Length: | 547 ft (167 m) |
| Beam: | 71 ft (22 m) |
| Propulsion: | quad expansion steam engine |
| Speed: | 17 knots |
| Complement: | 323 (as armed cruiser) |
| Armament: |
|
| Armor: | none |
The SS Rajputana was a British passenger and cargo carrying ocean liner. She was built for the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company at the Harland and Wolff docks on the River Clyde near Glasgow, Scotland in 1925. She was one of the P&O 'R' class liners from 1925 that had much of their interiors designed by Lord Inchcape's daughter Elsie Mackay. Named after the Rajputana region of western India, she sailed on a regular route between England and British India.
She was requisitioned into the Royal Navy on the onset of World War II and commissioned in December 1939 as the armed merchant cruiser HMS Rajputana. The installation of eight six-inch guns gave her the firepower of a light cruiser without the armoured protection. She was torpedoed and sunk off Iceland on 13 April 1941, after escorting a convoy across the North Atlantic.
In the Battle of the Atlantic HMS Rajputana escorted several North Atlantic convoys from Bermuda and Halifax under Captain F. H. Taylor, including BHX 42, BHX 45, BHX 49, BHX 52, BHX 54, BHX 61, BHX 64, BHX 71, BHX 83, BHX 94, BHX 101, BHX 111 and BHX 117
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