HMS Montclare (F85)

Montclare was a passenger ship built by the John Brown and Company on Clydebank for the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company, Montreal. She was later purchased by the Royal Navy during World War II.

History
Name:
  • Laid down as Metapedia
  • Launched as Montclare[1]
Owner: Canadian Pacific Steamships
Builder: John Brown & Co.
Launched: Sunday, 18 December 1921
United Kingdom
Commissioned: 2 June 1942
Decommissioned: October 1954
Reclassified: 1942 Destroyer Depot Ship, 1944 Submarine Depot Ship
Fate: Scrapped, Inverkeithing, 2 February 1958 by Thos W Ward
General characteristics
Displacement: 16314 Gross Register Tonnage and 21550 tons when commissioned
Length: 570 ft (170 m)
Beam: 70 ft (21 m)
Draft: 28 ft (8.5 m)
Propulsion: As built, 6 x steam turbine 13500 shp, double reduction geared. Re-engined 1929 with single reduction geared turbines by Harland & Wolff, Belfast.
Speed: 16 knots
Armament: As a submarine depot ship 4x 4" AA guns, 42x 2pdr AA and 19x 20 mm AA.

History

RMS Montclare

On 18 August 1922 Montclare left Liverpool, on her maiden voyage, bound for Quebec and Montreal, R. G. Latta commanding.[2] She served in the European and North Atlantic passenger trade. While heading for Greenock on 22 March 1931, she ran aground on Little Cumbrae with a number of passengers aboard. She was later refloated and was repaired in Liverpool.

HMS Montclare (F85)

On 28 August 1939 the Montclare was requisitioned by the Admiralty and converted to an Armed Merchant Cruiser being commissioned as such in October 1939. On 2 June 1942 she was sold to the Admiralty. Now HMS Montclare, she was converted to a Destroyer Depot Ship, completing in 1944. She sailed from the Clyde on 1 March 1945 in convoy via the Suez Canal, arriving in Sydney on 20 April 1945. She then sailed to Manus in the Admiralty Islands to support the destroyers of Task Force 57 on Operation Iceberg – the conquest of Okinawa and Sakishma Gunto islands. Rear Admiral D. B. Fisher CB CBE then took her as his flagship for the Pacific Fleet Train (Task Force 112) with the British Pacific Fleet until the war finished. She remained mainly in Manus until 4 September 1945, when she sailed to Hong Kong arriving on 9 September for the re-occupation of Hong Kong. She finally left Hong Kong on 3 January 1946, her crew having played a vital part in getting the Colony back on its feet again. She arrived back in Portsmouth on 21 February 1946, and was reduced to Reserve status prior to conversion to Submarine Depot Ship, in which role she spent a lot of time at Rothesay.[3] In 1953 she took part in the Fleet Review to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.[4]

In October 1954 HMS Montclare was decommissioned, being replaced as the 3rd Submarine Flotilla depot ship by HMS Adamant and laid up on the Gare Loch and then at Portsmouth. In January 1958 she was sold for scrap to Thos W Ward at Inverkeithing. Arriving there on 2 February, the scrapping commenced the next day.

While operating as a Submarine Depot Ship one of the Montclare's Signallers, Peter O'Toole, was later to go on to become a famous actor.

References
  1. "Ship Descriptions - Mi to Mu". Archived from the original on 14 February 2009. Retrieved 9 April 2011.
  2. "AMICUS Web Full Record". Retrieved 9 April 2011.
  3. Great liners: The Montclare at Clydesite Magazine
  4. Souvenir Programme, Coronation Review of the Fleet, Spithead, 15th June 1953, HMSO, Gale and Polden

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