SS Sussex
Sussex at Boulogne after being torpedoed in March 1916. The entire forepart of the ship was destroyed in the attack.
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| Builder: | William Denny & Brothers |
| Cost: | 5.2 thousand dollars |
| Yard number: | 530 |
| Launched: | 30 April 1896 |
| Out of service: | 1916–19 |
| Fate: | Scrapped |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Passenger ferry |
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| Length: | 275 ft 0 in (83.82 m) |
| Beam: | 34 ft 1 in (10.39 m) |
| Installed power: | Two triple expansion steam engines |
| Propulsion: | Twin propellors |
| Speed: | 20.5 knots (38.0 km/h) |
Sussex was a cross-English Channel passenger ferry, built in 1896 for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR). After the LBSCR came to a co-operation agreement with the Compagnie des Chemins de Fer de l'État Français, she transferred to their fleet under a French flag. Sussex became the focus of an international incident when she was severely damaged by a torpedo from a German U-Boat in 1916. After the war she was repaired and sold to Greece in 1919, being renamed Aghia Sophia. Following a fire in 1921, the ship was scrapped.
Built in 1896 by William Denny and Brothers of Dumbarton for the LBSCR, she was a direct replacement for the 1893 built TSS Seaford, which sank in 1895 after a collision with another LBSCR ferry, the TSS Lyon.
TSS Sussex was 275 feet 0 inches (83.82 m) long, with a beam of 34 feet 1 inch (10.39 m). She had a GRT of 1,565 and a NRT of 328. She was powered by two four-cylinder triple expansion steam engines, of 308 nhp, supplemented by a steam turbine. This power unit could propel her at 20.5 knots (38.0 km/h). She was launched on 30 April 1896.
Sussex served on the Newhaven - Dieppe route, making her maiden voyage on the 31 July 1896.
In March 1912 she came to the assistance of the stricken P&O liner Oceana, which had been in collision with the 2850-ton German-registered 4 masted steel-barque Pisagua, and subsequently sank with the loss of 9 lives. Replaced by the Paris on the Newhaven - Dieppe route in 1913, she was moved to Brighton to offer long day trip excursions, in competition with the White Funnel fleet paddle steamers of Bristol-based P and A Campbell. However, this proved unlucrative, and she was laid up from the end of that season. She was then sold in 1914 to the Compagnie des Chemins de Fer de l'État Français, remaining under the management of the LBSCR.
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