SS Ranchi

SS Ranchi after World War II (with aft funnel removed)
History
United Kingdom
Builder:	Hawthorn Leslie and Company Newcastle upon Tyne
Launched:	24 January 1925
Acquired:	August 1939
Commissioned:	23 October 1939
Decommissioned:	July 1947
Out of service:	16 March 1943
Reclassified:	Armed merchant cruiser
Fate:	scrapped Newport, Monmouthshire, 1953
General characteristics
Tonnage:	16,738 gross register tons
Length:	547 ft (167 m)
Beam:	71 ft (22 m)
Propulsion:	steam engine
Speed:	17 knots
Armament:	8 × 6 in (152 mm) 2 × 3 in (76 mm) (76.2 mm)

The SS Ranchi was a British passenger and cargo carrying ocean liner. During World War II she served as an armed merchant cruiser HMS Ranchi.

The SS Ranchi was built for the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O) by Hawthorn Leslie & Co. at Newcastle Upon Tyne, England and was launched on 24 January 1925. Her gross registered tonnage was 16,650, her length was 547 feet and her beam 71 feet. 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 Ranchi, now the capital city of Jharkhand state in eastern India, she sailed on a regular route between England and Bombay, India. Later she sailed to the Far East. She carried 600 passengers.

The SS Ranchi was requisitioned into the Royal Navy on 27 August 1939 (at the onset of World War II) and commissioned on 23 October 1939 as the armed merchant cruiser HMS Ranchi (Pennant F15). As an armed merchant cruiser, her gross registered tonnage was 16,738.

Her sister ships SS Rawalpindi, SS Rajputana and SS Ranpura were also converted to armed merchant cruisers. Except for small corvettes, the converted passenger ships like HMS Ranchi were the only armed protection for most of the early convoys. With their six-inch guns, they were the only escorts that could engage German surface ships. Very few convoys received the protection of the larger cruisers or battleships.