HMS Royal Ulsterman facts for kids
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HMS Royal Ulsterman was a large passenger ship built in 1936. She weighed 3,250 tons. Before the war, she sailed between Glasgow and Belfast with her sister ship, Royal Scotsman.
During World War II, Royal Ulsterman became a troop transport for the Royal Navy. She played a big part in many important Allied operations in Europe. This included the Dunkirk evacuation, the D-Day landings (specifically Operation Neptune), and helping to free the Channel Islands.
Contents
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom |
|
| Name | HMS Royal Ulsterman |
| Builder | Harland and Wolff, Belfast |
| Yard number | 964 |
| Launched | 10 March 1936 |
| Completed | 29 May 1936 |
| Fate | Sunk by limpet mine, 1973 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage | 3,250 tons (gross) |
| Length | 328 ft (100 m) (pp) 339 ft 6 in (103.48 m) (oa) |
| Beam | 47 ft 9 in (14.55 m) |
| Draught | 14 ft (4.3 m) |
| Propulsion | 2-shaft Diesel BHP 7,500 |
| Speed | 16 knots (30 km/h) |
| Capacity | 830 troops, six LCAs |
| Complement | 236 |
| Armament | 1 x 12 pdr AA, 5 x 20mm AA |
Royal Ulsterman's War Service
Early Operations and Evacuations
In 1940, Royal Ulsterman helped British soldiers in Norway. She also delivered weapons to Harstad, a town far north in the Arctic circle.
Later, on June 18, she picked up about 2,800 soldiers and three women at St. Nazaire, France. She took them safely to Falmouth in Cornwall, England. By the end of August, she had also moved French people to Casablanca and helped refugees from the Mediterranean get to Glasgow. She also took about 700 soldiers to Iceland. For the next year, Ulsterman made regular trips between Britain and Iceland.
During one of these trips, she carried the only three survivors of HMS Hood. This was a famous British warship sunk by the German battleship Bismarck.
On August 29, 1941, Ulsterman crashed into the destroyer HMS St. Mary's off the coast of Scotland. She needed repairs until late September.
Operations in Africa and Italy
In May 1942, Ulsterman took part in Operation Ironclad. This was a battle to land troops at Diego Suarez in Madagascar.
Later that year, she joined Operation Torch. This was the Allied invasion of North Africa. On November 8, 1942, she landed United States Army Rangers on the coast of Algeria. A few days later, on November 14, five German Luftwaffe planes attacked her while she was moving troops. Luckily, they missed.
In July 1943, Royal Ulsterman landed soldiers from the British 8th Army in Sicily for Operation Husky. She then helped with Operation Avalanche on September 9, 1943. She landed troops at Salerno on the Italian mainland.
D-Day and Channel Islands
Royal Ulsterman had a two-month repair in Southampton in early 1944. After that, she joined Operation Neptune. This was the sea part of Operation Overlord, the huge Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, also known as D-Day. The ship landed soldiers from the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division on Juno Beach.
The Channel Islands were the only part of Britain taken over by the Germans during World War II. They were freed after Germany surrendered. On May 11, 1945, Royal Ulsterman landed British troops on Jersey. She brought more soldiers on May 18.
After the War
Royal Ulsterman went back to Belfast in November 1945. After being fixed up, she started working again on her old route between Glasgow and Belfast. She did this until 1967.
Later, she was renamed Sounion and worked for a company called Mediterranean Link Lines. Sadly, on March 3, 1973, she sank at a dock in Beirut after someone sabotaged her. She was later taken apart for scrap.
