HMS Caledonia

[malteser]

I am looking for any information available about an HMS Caledonia which was in active service in the Mediterranean Fleet during World War ONE.
It certainly made several trips from Alexandria to Malta in 1919.
Any help would be most welcome.

[AlZictorini]

Malteser

Have just come across this link:

http://website.nbm-mnb.ca/MOP/english/ww1/dosearch.asp?browse=7&results=10&all=true

Was she a troop ship, this one was sunk off Malta on 4 December 1916 though (its a start)?

Regards (Happy New Year)

AlZictorini

[The Sailor]

Have you entered in HMS Caledonia into Google search or simular? Because when I did, I came up with a million references to the subject.
However I think that your era could be wrong

[AlZictorini]

Can’t find an actual warship under the name of HMS Caledonia within the dates your after Malteser. I can only think of the SS Caledonia which in August 1914 was requisitioned as a troop ship and at times operated in the Med. She was sunk on December 4th, 1916 by U65, 125 miles off Malta on passage from Salonica to Marseille.
or
Could you be after HMS Caledon? She may have made the trips in 1919 to Malta but wasn’t active in the Med during WWI?

Clarify more if possible – Was she a cruiser or troopship?

AlZictorini

The Sailor - Nice Avatar, did you make that yourself?

[stontamar]

The ex Clyde paddle steamer CALEDONIA (1889–1933) was requisitioned as a minesweeper from April 1917 to November 1919. There is a record that the vessel served on the south coast of England and the River Seine in France during the First World War I but no mention of her reaching Malta!

Also two trawlers named CALEDONIA were hired during that conflict but I doubt either was in Malta. One was requisitioned for employment in the Fishery Reserve and the other was sunk off the Northumberland coast by a U-boat in 1917. This trawler had only just been requisitioned and was on route to fit out for special service.

So that leaves us with another two alternatives;

SS CALEDONIA (Anchor Lines), which was requisitioned as a troop ship in August 1914 and sunk on 4th December 1916 by U65 125 miles East by South of Malta on passage Salonica for Marseille with mails. This is the vessel already mentioned by AlZictorin so is the 1919 date incorrrect? See first picture.

SS CALEDONIA built by D & W Henderson Ltd Glasgow, Yard No 438
Propulsion: steam, triple expansion, 16 knots
Launched: Saturday, 22/10/1904
Built: 1905
Ship Type: Passenger Vessel
Ship's Role: Transatlantic Glasgow - New York
Tonnage: 9223 grt
Length: 500 feet
Breadth: 58.3 feet
Owner History:
Anchor Line (Henderson Bros.), Glasgow

SS CALEDONIA (Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co.) was commissioned as a troopship (C.6021) on 29 December 1917 but previously she had run the Bombay mail service carrying troops and passengers from August 1914 to December 1917. On 14 December 1916 she hit two mines 3 miles E of Planier Island Light, off Marseilles. Her passengers were discharged and a skeleton crew took her into Marseilles where she was repaired and returned to service. If the 1919 date is corrrct this would appear to be the most likely candidate. Please see the second picture.

SS CALEDONIA built by Caird & Company Greenock, Yard No 273
Port of Registry: Greenock
Propulsion: Five cylinder triple expansion steam engine, 11000ihp, single screw, 18 knots.
Launched: Saturday, 19/05/1894
Built: 1894
Ship Type: Passenger Liner
Ship's Role: UK/India mail service
Tonnage: 7558 gross; 3529 net; 4234 dwt
Length: 486ft 0in
Breadth: 54ft 3in
Draught: 26ft 11in
Owner History:
Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company
Status: Scrapped - 1925, Bombay

Regards

[The Sailor]

Top marks for the effort and perseverance that some members put in to satisfy a request.

I think that in this particular case it seems that you got your era wrong Malteser.

As I previously said,there are many references to HMS Caledonia,
but they were in another time frame.

http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/conMediaFile.1825/HMS-Caledonia-lying-in-Plymouth-Sound.html

http://www.ocaaa.org/5751.html


Please note
The fourth and final HMS Caledonia was originally the White Star liner Majestic. On the 21st April 1937 she was commissioned by Captain Sir Atwell Lake to be a training establishment for both boy seamen and artificer apprentices until such time as a permanent establishment could be erected on shore at Rosyth.

At the outbreak of the Second World War it was decided that the ship offered too large a target so the boy seamen were evacuated to the Isle of Man and the apprentices were billeted in King’s Road School in Rosyth until the end of 1940 when the establishment was considered to be sufficiently finished to accommodate the apprentices.



Apprentices continued to be trained at HMS Caledonia until 1985 since when it has been used for a variety of tasks including accommodation for ships in the Dockyard, training of Royal Marine Bandsmen etc.

[jbryce1437]

This is the liner Majestic in her role as HMS Caledonia at Rosyth in 1937. The previous HMS Caledonia listed by Colledge was an ironclad of 1861 which was sold in 1886, so I assume it is the Troopship SS Caledonia which is in question.

[macw]

Hi,

Thank you for this information below. I was trying to find the Caledonia that my relatives sailed out to India on the 27 Nov 1924. From the tonnage and date it was the 1894 one that was scrapped in 1925 in Bombay. The only puzzle is there seems to have been two SS Caledonia's commisioned at the same time? Was the 1894 decommisoned or renamed for a period?

Thanks,

MACW:)

The ex Clyde paddle steamer CALEDONIA (1889–1933) was requisitioned as a minesweeper from April 1917 to November 1919. There is a record that the vessel served on the south coast of England and the River Seine in France during the First World War I but no mention of her reaching Malta!

Also two trawlers named CALEDONIA were hired during that conflict but I doubt either was in Malta. One was requisitioned for employment in the Fishery Reserve and the other was sunk off the Northumberland coast by a U-boat in 1917. This trawler had only just been requisitioned and was on route to fit out for special service.

So that leaves us with another two alternatives;

SS CALEDONIA (Anchor Lines), which was requisitioned as a troop ship in August 1914 and sunk on 4th December 1916 by U65 125 miles East by South of Malta on passage Salonica for Marseille with mails. This is the vessel already mentioned by AlZictorin so is the 1919 date incorrrect? See first picture.

SS CALEDONIA built by D & W Henderson Ltd Glasgow, Yard No 438
Propulsion: steam, triple expansion, 16 knots
Launched: Saturday, 22/10/1904
Built: 1905
Ship Type: Passenger Vessel
Ship's Role: Transatlantic Glasgow - New York
Tonnage: 9223 grt
Length: 500 feet
Breadth: 58.3 feet
Owner History:
Anchor Line (Henderson Bros.), Glasgow

SS CALEDONIA (Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co.) was commissioned as a troopship (C.6021) on 29 December 1917 but previously she had run the Bombay mail service carrying troops and passengers from August 1914 to December 1917. On 14 December 1916 she hit two mines 3 miles E of Planier Island Light, off Marseilles. Her passengers were discharged and a skeleton crew took her into Marseilles where she was repaired and returned to service. If the 1919 date is corrrct this would appear to be the most likely candidate. Please see the second picture.

SS CALEDONIA built by Caird & Company Greenock, Yard No 273
Port of Registry: Greenock
Propulsion: Five cylinder triple expansion steam engine, 11000ihp, single screw, 18 knots.
Launched: Saturday, 19/05/1894
Built: 1894
Ship Type: Passenger Liner
Ship's Role: UK/India mail service
Tonnage: 7558 gross; 3529 net; 4234 dwt
Length: 486ft 0in
Breadth: 54ft 3in
Draught: 26ft 11in
Owner History:
Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company
Status: Scrapped - 1925, Bombay

Regards

[astraltrader]

Mac - The problem is there were five ships with the Anchor line alone with the name of "SS Caledonia"!

The first, which was built in 1840, wrecked in 1851 near Havana.

The second, which was built in 1862, ran aground in Dec. 1862, was refloated, then wrecked in 1872.

The third, which was built in 1863 by Tod & MacGregor, was scrapped in Italy during 1898.

The fourth, which was built in 1904 was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean on Dec. 4, 1916.

The fifth was built in 1925, was converted to an armed merchant ship in 1939 and renamed the Scotstoun. It was torpedoed and sunk in the North Atlantic on June 13, 1940.

As well as these ships there were Caledonia`s with other lines, Caledonians and also trawlers of both names to boot!!

[astraltrader]

I have a feeling the Caledonia your relatives sailed on in 1924 was the P and O liner of 1898-1925 - which I have this picture [taken from a painting]