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H.M.T. Egra
The Egra was used in the transportation of
1/25th London troops to Mesopotamia, departing 19 Nov 1917 and arriving in
Basra on the 24th.
These troops had been seconded to the 1/9th Middlesex Regt for action in Mesopotamia in
October 1917.
Named after Egra which is West of Balasore, South West Bengal.
For identification purposes Egra was the only 'E' Class not fitted with stockless anchors.
She entered service in August of 1911 and in September of 1914 trooped to Marseilles, she also attended the Basra Landings in the December of the same year and spent the remainder of the war as a Troop Transport. In 1922 she ran aground off Amoy but the remainder of her pre- Second War career was uneventful. She served as a Troop Transport from July 1940 to November of 1946 seeing service Karachi Basra April 1941, August 1941 Bombay- Port Swettenham. On the 26th of November 1943 she was in convoy with Rohna when the latter was sank by a glider bomb and in January of 1945 she was a Supply and Troop Transport for the Kyaukpyu Landings in Burma. Just before decommissioning she grounded in the Hooghly on the 27th of October 1946 and it wasn't until the 7th of November that she was refloated. She remained in service until January 1950 before being sold for scrap to the Steel Corporation of Bombay on the 1st of February at the time she was the longest serving ship in the BI Fleet.
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HMT Egra on the Basra River pictured c.1917.
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| P&O fact
sheet |
| * indicates entries
changed during P&O Group service. |
| Type |
Passenger/cargo liner |
| P&O
Group service |
1914-1950 |
| P&O
Group status |
Owned by subsidiary company |
| Registered owners |
British India Steam Navigation
Company Ltd |
| Builders |
Workman, Clark & Co Ltd |
| Yard |
Belfast |
| Country |
UK |
| Yard
number |
307 |
| Official
number |
129570 |
| Call sign |
HSTB |
| Classification society |
Lloyd’s Register |
| Gross
tonnage |
5,109 grt |
| Net tonnage |
2,345 nrt |
| Deadweight |
4,620 tons |
| Length |
124.96m (410.0ft) |
| Breadth |
16.09m (52.8ft) |
| Depth |
7.52m (24.7ft) |
| Draught |
7.101m (23.3ft) |
| Engines |
2 triple expansion steam
engines |
| Engine builders |
Workman, Clark & Co Ltd |
| Works |
Belfast |
| Power |
7,000 ihp |
| Propulsion |
Twin screw |
| Speed |
16.6 knots (trials) |
| Passenger
capacity |
50 first class, 36 second
class, 2,182 deck passengers |
| Employment |
Indian Ocean service (mainly
Bay of Bengal or Singapore Straits) |
| 14.03.1911: |
Launched. |
| 01.06.1911: |
Registered as Egra for British
India Steam Navigation Company at a cost of £104,344. She was the
fourth ship of the E-class to be delivered with the other ships named
Ellenga, Edavana, Elephanta, Ellora, Erinpura and Ekma. |
| 12.06.1911: |
Back at Belfast with bottom
plates damaged. |
| 08.1911: |
Completed. |
| 24.06.1914: |
Takeover of British India Steam
Navigation Company by The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation
Company agreed. |
| 09.1914: |
Served as an Indian
Expeditionary Force transport and was part of the large convoy with
left Bombay for Marseilles. |
| 1914/1919: |
Spent the remainder of the war
in transport service. |
| 11.05.1918: |
Trooped from Karachi/Suez. |
| 1922 |
Grounded off Amoy with minor
damage. |
| 07.1940/ |
Taken up on trooping duties for
the Second World War and served |
| 11.1946: |
as a Personnel Ship. She was
present at the Kyaukpyu landings. |
| 26.11.1943: |
Was sailing in consort with
Rohna when the latter was sunk. |
| 27.10.1946: |
Grounded in the Hooghly. |
| 07.11.1946: |
Finally refloated from her
grounding in the Hooghly. |
| 01.02.1950: |
Sold for Rs 313,000 to the
Steel Corporation of Bombay. By this time she had clocked up the
longest continuous BI service of any ship in the fleet, a record which
was soon lost by a small margin to the Barala. |
|
Courtesy
of P&O Heritage
 |
Acknowledgments
Merchant Navy
Officers
British India Steam Navigation - BIships
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