HMS Engadine: Her role in two World Wars

It was whilst I was researching the background of HMS Engadine for my recent blog post about the Battle of Jutland that I realised that she had played two very different roles in two different hemispheres during the two World Wars.

She had begun life in 1911 at the shipyard of William Denny and Brothers, Dumbarton, Scotland as a cross-channel packet ship owned by the South East and Chatham Railway. She was capable of reaching just under 22 knots, and from her introduction into service until she was leased by the Royal Navy, she operated on the Folkestone to Boulogne route. Along with several other fast,short-sea packet ships, she was requisitioned for service in the Royal Navy soon after the outbreak of the First World War.

SS Engadine.

SS Engadine was taken into service on 11th August 1914 and was commissioned as HMS Engadine on 1st September. She was modified at Chatham Dockyard, Kent, to become a seaplane carrier, and this involved the construction of three canvas hangars (one forward and two aft) on her upper deck. Her complement of four seaplanes were housed in the hangers and deployed by being being lowered onto the sea by newly installed derricks so that they could take-off and land.

HMS Engadine.

These conversions proved to be successful, and in February 1915 Engadine was purchased by the Admiralty and further conversion work was undertaken in Liverpool. A permanent hanger with a capacity for four seaplanes was installed in place of the two aft temporary ones, two cranes were added aft to handle the seaplanes, and an armament of four 12-pounder 12 cwt quick-firing (QF) guns and two Vickers 3-pounder quick-firing (QF)anti-aircraft guns were fitted for self-defence. It was in this configuration that she took part in the Battle of Jutland.

In December 1919, she was sold back to her original owners, the South Eastern and Chatham Railway and returned to her role as a cross-channel packet ship. When the railways were reorganised in 1923, she came under the conrol of the Southern Railway. Ten years later she was sold to the Filipino ferry operator Fernandez Hermanos Inc. and was renamed SS Corregidor.

SS Corregidor.

When the Japanese declared war on the United States, SS Corregidor was operated by Compañia Maritima and based in Manila. On 16th December 1941 she set sail at 10.00pm with up to 1,500 passengers aboard ... which was well over her capacity. She was also carrying military supplies, including Philippine Army 2.95-inch mountain guns. On leaving harbour, she entered a defensive minefield, and at just before 1.00am there was a large explosion on the starboard side of the ship. She immediately began to sink, and despite the best efforts of PT boats from Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Three (MTBRon 3), fewer than 300 passengers were rescued.

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The Royal Navy has a tradition of re-using names for ships that perform similar or the same function. Probably the most well-known instance of this is the name Ark Royal.

The first Ark Royal was the flagship of the English fleet which fought the Spanish Armada in 1588. The second was a merchantman that was - like Engadine - converted into a seaplane carrier in 1914. She was retained by the Royal Navy after the First World War and reamed HMS Pegasus in 1930 to release the name for use by the third Ark Royal. This was an armoured aircraft carrier that was launched in 1937, and which has a very active war until she was sunk by a U-boat torpedo in the Mediterranean in 1941.

The next Ark Royal was also an aircraft carrier that was launched in 1950 and commissioned in 1955. She was the last conventional aircraft carrier operated by the Royal Navy until the Queen Elizabeth=class came into service. She was decommissioned in 1979. The name was re-used for the third ship of the Invincible-class of light aircraft carriers, which was launched in 1981 and decommissioned in 2011.

The name Engadine was re-used in 1941 for an aircraft transport ship ...

HMS Engadine (1941).

... and again in 1965 when the RFA Engadine was laid down at the shipyard of Henry Robb Ltd, Leith, Scotland. She was a helicopter support ship (the modern equivalent of a seaplane carrier) that was operated by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. She served during the Falklands War as a helicopter support and refuelling ship in San Carlos Water. She was withdrawn from service in 1989 and scrapped 1996.

RFA Engadine.