TS Pretoria was a ship that had a long and varied career as first a German cargo liner, then a U-boat depot ship, hospital ship, British troop ship, Muslim pilgrim ship and finally an Indonesian naval accommodation ship.
Description
The ship was long, with a beam of . She had a depth of , with a draught of . As built, she was assessed at . Following her 1958 refit, she was assessed as .
As built, the ship was powered by six steam turbines, rated at a total of 14,000 shp. These were fed by a number of small, high-pressure Benson boilers. The turbines drove twin screw propellers and could propel the ship at . In 1949, the Benson boilers were replaced by convention boilers, made by Foster Wheeler, operating at . In 1973, she was re-engined, being fitted with a diesel engine.
As built, the ship had accommodation for 152 first class and 338 second class passengers. In 1949, she was converted to a troopship, with accommodation for 1,491 troops. In 1959, she was refitted to carry 106 first class and 2,000 pilgrim class passengers.
History
Pre-war
Pretoria was built as yard number 536 by Blohm & Voss, Hamburg, Germany. She was launched on 16 July 1936. She was one of a pair of sister ships completed that year for Deutsche Ost-Afrika Linie, the other being TS Windhuk. The Code Letters DJSG were allocated.
Pretoria began her maiden voyage from Hamburg on 19 December 1936. Her destination was Lourenço Marques, Mozambique via Southampton, United Kingdom; Lisbon, Portugal; Casablanca, Morocco; Cape Town, South Africa. On 24 December, having departed from Southampton with 470 passengers and 300 crew on board, she ran aground on the East Lepe Bank in the Solent. Although five tugs attempted to free her, she remained aground. After 900 tons of water had been discharged overboard and 400 tons of fuel oil had been transferred to a tanker, she was freed with the aid of seven tugs on 26 December, losing her port anchor in the process. Pretoria returned to Southampton for inspection, resuming her voyage the next day. As a result of the delays incurred, the calls at Lisbon and Casablanca were omitted. Deutsche Ost-Afrika Linie operated her mainly between Hamburg, South-West Africa and South Africa.
On 20 May 1937, Pretoria was involved in a collision with the British tanker during foggy weather in the North Sea (). Hekla was badly damaged amidships and jettisoned some of her cargo. Pretoria stood by whilst tugs were sent from Bremen, Germany to Heklas aid.
World War II
In November 1939, Pretoria was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine and used as a U-boat depot ship. Initially based at Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, she served the 1st U-boat Flotilla, based at Neustadt, Hamburg, from January 1940. In December she was transferred to 21st U-boat Flotilla, based at Pillau, East Prussia. In 1945, she was converted to a hospital ship. Pretoria assisted in the evacuation of German civilians from the Eastern Territories towards the end of the war. In May 1945 she was in Copenhagen when Denmark was liberated, and UK forces captured her as a prize of war.
Post-war civil service
Pretoria was passed to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) converted to a troop ship at Newcastle upon Tyne. She was renamed Empire Doon. The MoWT placed her under the management of the Orient Steam Navigation Company. Empire Doon suffered boiler trouble in Port Said, Egypt, was towed back to Falmouth, Cornwall by the Admiralty tug Bustler. She was then laid up off Southend on Sea. Essex, Empire Doon was moved to Southampton, Hampshire in May 1947. In 1949, she was reboilered by J.I. Thorneycroft & Co of Southampton, and converted to a troopship, at a cost of £2,000,000. Trials were undertaken in November 1949, but had to be curtailed due to engine problems. Her maiden voyage as a troopship, scheduled for 10 December, was postponed. Sea trials resumed on 29 December.
The refit of Empire Doon was completed in January 1950 and she was renamed Empire Orwell to conform with the Ministry of Transport policy of ship names being prefixed "Empire" and Orient Line policy of using names beginning with "O". She had capacity for 1,491 troops in three classes. Empire Orwell departed on her maiden voyage as a troopship on 17 January 1950 bound for Tobruk, Libya and Port Said, Egypt. She served as a troopship in the 1956 Suez Crisis: landing troops in Cyprus and evacuating troops from the Suez Canal Zone.