SS Patroclus (1923)

For other ships with the same name, see SS Patroclus.

History
United Kingdom
Name	Patroclus
Namesake	Patroclus
Owner	China Mutual SN Co
Operator	Alfred Holt & Co
Port of registry	Liverpool (1924–39) (1939–40)
Builder	Scotts Shilbuilding & Eng Co
Yard number	518
Launched	17 March 1923
Completed	11 June 1923
Identification	UK official number 147218 code letters KPFD (until 1933) call sign GCXF (1934 onward)
Fate	sunk by torpedoes 4 November 1940
General characteristics
Type	refrigerated cargo and passenger liner
Tonnage	11,314 GRT 6,912 NRT
Length	498.8 ft (152.0 m)
Beam	62.3 ft (19.0 m)
Depth	26.4 ft (8.0 m)
Propulsion	2 × steam turbines; 2 × screws
Speed	15.5 kn (28.7 km/h)
Capacity	155 first class passengers
Notes	sister ships: Sarpedon, Hector and Antenor

SS Patroclus was a UK steam turbine passenger and refrigerated cargo liner. She was the third of five ships to bear the name.

She was commissioned into the Royal Navy as the armed merchant cruiser HMS Patroclus on 12 September 1939 and sunk by torpedo by the German submarine U-99 on 4 November 1940.

Patroclus was the second of a four-ship class, comprising Sarpedon, Patroclus, Hector, and Antenor. They were built with accommodation for 155 first-class passengers by request of the British government to provide additional passenger berths on cargo vessels on services to the Far East. The passenger accommodation in the superstructure did not impact the cargo-carrying ability of the ships, since the shipping line did not expect the passenger-carrying to turn a profit.

Bibliography

• Osborne, Richard; Spong, Harry & Grover, Tom (2007). Armed Merchant Cruisers 1878–1945. Windsor: World Warship Society. ISBN 978-0-9543310-8-5.

External links

• "Rendle, Ronald Walter William". Imperial War Museum. – interview with a survivor