Hector was 498.8 ft (152.0 m) long, 62.3 ft (19.0 m) beam and had a depth of 26.4 ft (8.0 m).[2] She had a counter stern, slightly raked stem, one funnel and two masts.[4] She had accommodation for first class passengers only.[5]
Scotts delivered Hector to Blue Funnel on 23 September 1924[3] and she made her maiden voyage from Liverpool to the Far East on 24 September 1924.[8] This was the regular route for Hector and her three sisters.[4]
Naval service
On 27 August 1939, a few days before the outbreak of the Second World War, the Admiralty requisitioned Hector and had her converted into an armed merchant cruiser. Her primary armament was six BL 6-inch Mk XII naval guns[9] and her secondary armament included two QF 3-inch 20 cwt anti-aircraft guns.[10] Her conversion was completed on 20 December 1939.[11]
Hector was dry docked in Colombo in Ceylon to prepare for decommissioning.[8] On 5 April 1942 Japanese carrier-based aircraft attacked the port in the Easter Sunday Raid. The Japanese force had hoped to catch remnants of the Eastern Fleet in harbour, but most of the fleet had left earlier. Japanese aircraft attacked the few targets they could find, one of which was Hector. She was hit by five bombs that set her on fire, and after several hours she sank. The air raid also sank the destroyer HMS Tenedos in the harbour.[12] The cruisersHMS Cornwall and Dorsetshire were sunk at sea later that day.[13]
The Admiralty returned the wreck of Hector to the Ocean Steamship Company on 20 April 1942, but because of the war she was not refloated until 1946.[8] She was beached 5 nautical miles (9 km) north of Colombo for assessment.[3] She was judged to be beyond economical repair, and was sold for scrap.[11]
References
^Swiggum, Susan; Kohli, Marjorie (17 October 2010). "Blue Funnel Line". TheShipsList. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
^ abc"Steamers & Motorships". Lloyd's Register(PDF). Vol. II. London: Lloyd's Register. 1930. Retrieved 1 November 2020 – via Plimsoll Ship Data.
^ abc"Hector". Scottish Built Ships. Caledonian Maritime Research Trust. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
Harnack, Edwin P (1930) [1903]. All About Ships & Shipping (3rd ed.). London: Faber and Faber.
Osborne, Richard; Spong, Harry & Grover, Tom (2007). Armed Merchant Cruisers 1878–1945. Windsor: World Ship Society. ISBN978-0-9543310-8-5.
Shores, Christopher; Cull, Brian; Izawa, Yasuho (1993). Bloody Shambles: Volume Two: The Defence of Sumatra to the Fall of Burma. London: Grub Street. ISBN0-948817-67-4.
Talbot-Booth, EC (1936). Ships and the Sea (Third ed.). London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co Ltd.