SS Kalyan was a ship operated by the P & O shipping line between 1915 and 1932.

History
United Kingdom
NameSS Kalyan
OperatorRoyal Navy (1915—1919) P & O (1919–1932)
BuilderCammell Laird, Birkenhead
Laid down1914
Launched24 September 1914
Out of service1932
FateSold to Japanese ship breakers, 12 February 1932
General characteristics
Type
Tonnage9,144 GRT
Length480.6 ft (146.5 m)
Beam58.2 ft (17.7 m)
Height37.7 ft (11.5 m)
Propulsion2 screws producing 7,040 hp (5.25 MW)
Notes[1]

Wartime Service

edit

Kalyan was used as a troop ship between England, Egypt and Salonika. She was then refitted as a hospital ship and dispatched to North Russia in October 1918. After a 12-day voyage she arrived in Archangel. There she acted as a temporary base hospital for British, Canadian, French, Italian, Chinese and Russian sick and wounded.[2] The ship remained there throughout the winter, with ice having to be broken each day to prevent damage through "pinching".

She returned to Leith in June 1919. Many of her crew were Muslim Lascars who had problems during Ramadan 1919, as they were above the Arctic Circle and the sun did not set. General Ironside gave them dispensation from observing the Ramadan fast.[3]

Sister ships

edit
  • SS Karmala
  • SS Kashgar
  • SS Kashmir
  • SS Khiva
  • SS Khyber

Citations

edit
  1. ^ "KALYAN". passengersinhistory.sa.gov.au/. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  2. ^ Robinson, W. G. (May–June 1990). "Hospital Ship at Archangel, 1918–19" (PDF). BNA Topics. 47 (3). British North America Philatelic Society Ltd.: 12. Archived from the original (pdf) on 2013-08-23. Retrieved 2013-08-21.
  3. ^ Ironside, Edmund. Archangel 1918-1919.

References

edit