HMT Awatea

HMT Awatea was a British troopship used in World War II, that was actually a converted Ocean Liner, TSS Awatea, built for the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand. She operated the trans-Tasman route between Sydney, Australia and Auckland, New Zealand. Commandeered by the Royal Navy in 1940, she was used to transport Canadian troops to Hong Kong on 27 October 1941, arriving there on 16 November. In November 1942, she was ordered to deliver the No. 6. Commando brigade to North Africa, but she had some problems. Later on that day, she was sunk by airplanes after putting up a heroic fight and delivered the last wave of specialized assault troops to the beach in Algeria.

History
New Zealand/United Kingdom
Name: TSS Awatea
Ordered: 1935
Builder: Vickers-Armstrong
Yard number: 707
Laid down: 1935
Launched: 25 February 1936
Commissioned: July 1936
Reclassified: 1939, as troopship from express liner and received the name HMT Awatea
Fate: Sunk in Bougie through the Luftwaffe on 11 November 1942 after Operation Torch, due to bomb and torpedo damage.
General characteristics (as built)
TSS Awatea 1936-1942

Service as an Ocean Liner

The TSS Awatea (translation "Eye of the Dawn") was a crack express Ocean Liner operating between Australia and New Zealand from 1937 until 1940 when she was requisitioned by the Royal Navy for troop transport duties during World War Two.[1]

Service in World War II

One of the Awatea's first tasks was to transport members of the "C" Force, a force created by the Government of Canada to protect its interests in Hong Kong against a possible Japanese invasion. The Awatea and HMCS Prince Robert picked up the troops in Vancouver on 27 October 1941, and dropped them off in Hong Kong on 16 November.[2]

She was ordered to deliver the No. 6. Commando brigade to North Africa for Operation Torch on November 1942, to defeat the Vichy French forces. She completed her landing successfully, although the landing for the No. 6. Commando brigade had some major problems.[3]

The first problem was the inexperience of the crew at launching landing craft,[1] which caused the landing to be two hours off schedule and the last wave of troops to arrive at 6:30 am, with most of the landing off target for as much as several miles.

As she was departing on 11 November 1942, an unknown number of aircraft from the Kampfgeschwader 77 of the German Luftwaffe started an attack. They bombed and strafed her, but her crew fought against the aircraft with anything they could find. Two torpedoes hit her port side and a dud bomb hit her deck, and when it got into the fire started by the torpedoes, the dud bomb exploded and the whole ship caught on fire. Several near-misses blasted apart most of the accommodations for first-class passengers. At this point the crew abandoned the ship, which was later sunk by the same aircraft. The admiral of her fleet said "she fought the battle of a battleship" as a tribute to her.[4]

References

Notes

    Citations
    1. Garrett (1980), p. 155
    2. Wilford (2011), p. 93.
    3. Seymour (2006), p. 31.
    4. Homework (2010)

    Bibliography
    • Garrett, Richard (1980). The Raiders. Newton Abbot, UK: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-7835-X.
    • Seymour, William (2006). British Special Forces: The Story of Britain's Undercover Soldiers. Barnsley, UK: Pen and Sword. ISBN 1-4738-1283-6.
    • Wilford, Timothy (2011). Canada's Road to the Pacific War: Intelligence, Strategy, and the Far East Crisis. Vancouver, CA: USB Press. ISBN 0-7748-2124-8.

    News sources
    • Homework, Dave (2010). "The Loss of HMS Awatea". The Wings over New Zealand.
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