ROYAL MAIL LINERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26349, 2 January 1947, Page 3

ROYAL MAIL LINERS

PURCHASE BY BRITISH GOVERNMENT After having served Royal Mail Lines and the country well for more than 30 years, the liner Almanzora, of 15,500 tons gross, has been sold to the British Government. The ship was new at the outbreak of the 1914-18 war and was commissioned as an armed merchant cruiser and served with the 10th Cruiser Squadron. After the end of that war she resumed her mail and passengef- services between Southampton and Brazil and Argentina. At the outbreak of the present war she was commissiohed as a transport, served throughout the war and is still engaged in that capacity under the management of Royal Mail Lines. Presumably the high cost of reconverting a vessel of her type and age to ordinary passenger services has influenced the decision to leave her as a transport. Similar considerations have influenced the sale to the Government of the sister ship Atlantis, built as the Andes in 1913. After serving throughout the 1914-18 war she was for many years engaged in pleasure cruising. At the beginning of the last war she was commissioned as a hospital ship and is still serving as such under the management of her late owners. The Royal Mail liner Asturias, of 22,000 tons gross, built in 1925, was engaged on patrol duties and as a convoy escort during the recent war. Eventually she was torpedoed, but was able to reach port. The high cost of reconditioning the ship has also influenced her sale to the Government. She has been fitted for trooping, on which she is now engaged.