TSS Bruges was a passenger vessel built for the Great Eastern Railway in 1920.[1]

History
NameTSS Bruges
Operator
Port of registryUnited Kingdom
RouteHarwich to Antwerp
BuilderJohn Brown, Clydebank
Yard number494
Launched20 March 1920
FateBombed and sunk 11 June 1940
General characteristics
Tonnage2,949 gross register tons (GRT)
Length321.6 feet (98.0 m)
Beam43.1 feet (13.1 m)

History

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The ship was built by John Brown of Clydebank for the Great Eastern Railway as one of a contract for two new steamers and launched on 20 March 1920.[2] She was launched by Lady Thornton

She was placed on the Harwich to Antwerp route.[3]

In 1923 she was acquired by the London and North Eastern Railway.

She was requisitioned during the World War II as a troopship. She took part in Operation Cycle (the evacuation of Allied troops from Le Havre) and bombed and damaged on 11 June 1940 at Le Havre by Luftwaffe aircraft. She was beached to prevent her from sinking.[4]

References

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  1. ^ Duckworth, Christian Leslie Dyce; Langmuir, Graham Easton (1968). Railway and other Steamers. Prescot, Lancashire: T. Stephenson and Sons.
  2. ^ "New Railway Steamer". Cambridge Daily News. England. 22 March 1920. Retrieved 31 October 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. ^ Haws, Duncan (1993). Merchant Fleets – Britain's Railway Steamers – Eastern and North Western Companies + Zeeland and Stena. Hereford: TCL Publications. ISBN 0-946378-22-3.
  4. ^ "Bruges Ferry 1920-1940)". Wrecksite. Retrieved 11 June 2013.