HMS India
Steamer SS India was launched on 15 April 1896. Built by Caird and Co of Greenock, she was the largest boat of the P & O fleet at the time she started sailing for them. Her first trips were between Britain and India and in 1898, she set sail for Australia for the first time. In 1900 SS India was the first ship to use P & O’s new harbour facilities in Fremantle.
She was a large passenger steamer who, in peace time, carried up to 314 first class and 212 second class passengers as well as four hundred crew. She had twin funnels and weighed about 8,000 tons and even though she was only a single-screw ship (meaning that she had a single propellor), she was still relatively fast, capable of 18 knots on a regular basis and going as fast as 19 and a half knots on one recorded occasion.
First World War
From the Tilley family collection, this photograph looks like it was taken whilst preparing the ship for war duties.
From the Maynard family collection, this photograph is titled Loading Guns
After World War 1 was declared in July 1914, the Admiralty commandeered around half the fleet of P & O’s ships for use in the new conflict. The ships were to be either used as Merchant Navy ships for the carrying of troops and supplies or as Armed Merchant Cruisers. The Merchant Navy were unarmed but vital to the war effort as they imported food and raw materials and provided passage for troops in and out of war zones. Britain had the largest merchant fleet in the First World War.
Armed Merchant Cruisers were, as their name implies, armed, and used in a more confrontational mode in the war. There were a detailed and specific checklist ships had to meet before being considered for conversion to an Armed Merchant Cruiser. That list included, amongst other things, conditions such as being able to stay at sea for at least 50 days at a cruising speed of 10 knots, being able to be divided into watertight compartments, good protection of coal and the ability to be quickly taken away from its usual purpose.
SS India was converted from passenger ship to armed cruiser in April 1915 at Silley Weir’s Wharf in Blackwall, East London. The first entry of the Ship’s Log, written on the 12 April 1915 states that “Ship at Messrs. Silley Weir’s Wharf; men employed as requisite for mounting guns and refitting ship during whole of day.”[1]
The next five days sees the ship complete its transformation with the log commenting at various times that the hands have been “Ammunitioning ship” and “taking in ammunition.” Time was also spent “cleaning and sweeping boat deck, taking in stores” as well as coaling the ship and evaluating its stability. Stability could be an issue with Armed Merchant Cruisers as they usually relied heavily on cargo and luggage for ballast and this was not provided when the ships were at war and the ships had been made more unstable by the addition of guns and armoury on board.
On Sunday the 18 April 1915, the now HMS India “Received draft of forty men from HMS Pembroke”, in addition to those already on board and then at 2:10 p.m. “Cast off hawsers and proceeded down the river.” This once elegant international cruiser was now a war ship.
HMS India joined the 10th Cruiser Squadron. The straightforward yet challenging aim of this squadron was to seal both entrances to the North Sea and intercept any suspicious marine traffic whilst dodging enemy submarines. It was the most protracted naval operation of the First World War lasting for over three years. There were a great many ships to intercept for instance, in 1915 there were 3,098 ships chased, intercepted, and examined. 743 ships were found to be carrying contraband and were sent into port to be examined further.
[1] HMS India Copy of Log. National Archives ADM 53/44825