P.S.N.C. LINER ‘REINA DEL PACIFICO’ OF 1931

Built by Harland & Wolff at Belfast in 1931. Yard No. 852

Official Number: 162339     Signal Letters: G M P S

Gross Tonnage: 17,872;  Nett: 10,402.   Length: 551·3ft, Breadth: 76·3ft

Owned by the Pacific Steam Navigation Co. Ltd.,  Liverpool

Quadruple Screw Motor Vessel

There was widespread regret on Merseyside at the end of 1958 with the news of the final disposal for demolition of the familiar Reina del Pacifico, although her later years were marred by a series of unfortunate incidents which brought her into the popular press with uncanny regularity.

Throughout her pre-war career she gave excellent service and the same could be said of her war role as a troopship.

Completed in 1931 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast , the Reina del Pacifico quickly made a great name for herself for comfort and reliability. On her completion she was of considerable interest through her method of propulsion as she had quadruple screws each driven by trunked piston, 12-cylinder oil engines working on the single-acting, 4-stroke principle. She had four auxiliary engines besides, each driving a dynamo and accommodated in a separate engine room, divided from the main one by a watertight door.

The Reina del Pacifico was launched on 23^rd September 1930 and she became the largest vessel to date in the fleet of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company. She was the first of the company’s ships to be given a white hull, and the first of its passenger ships to be given a name that did not begin with ‘O’. The new liner’s two funnels added to her appearance, but the forward one was a dummy.

As far as the passenger accommodation was concerned, the Reina del Pacifico provided a new standard of luxury in the South American trade. On completion she could carry 800 passengers in first, second and third-class accommodation. The public rooms were decorated in Spanish designs of the Moresque and Colonial periods.

Before commencing her maiden voyage to South America, the new Reina del Pacifico made a three-day shakedown cruise to the North Sea with company guests on board. Her maiden voyage on her intended route left Liverpool on 9^th April 1931 and she called at La Rochelle , Vigo , Bermuda , Bahamas , Havana , Jamaica , Panama Canal,    Guayaquil , Callao (19 days), continuing to Antofagasta and Valparaiso (25½ days). On 19^th January 1932 she commenced her first annual ‘Round South America’ voyage. Her record passage from Liverpool to Valparaiso of just under 25 days was made in 1936. In 1937 Mr Ramsay MacDonald died on board the Reina del Pacifico whilst on a holiday voyage to South America .

The Reina del Pacifico was taken up for trooping service just before the outbreak of the Second World War and her first voyage in this capacity was in the re-arrangement of overseas garrisons: she sailed from the Clyde for Singapore and afterwards brought the first Canadian troops to Britain .

On more than one occasion the enemy claimed to have sunk her but these reports - like the premature report of Mark Twain’s death – were greatly exaggerated and she continued her trooping service mainly on long distance routes. The Reina del Pacifico  rushed troops to Norway in April, 1940, and just as quickly evacuated them a few weeks later. On her arrival at Bygden Fjord she steamed around at full speed in circles for two hours whilst the fjord was depth-charged by her escorts, HMS Fearless and HMS Brazen, who forced U49 to the surface.

After that she was employed mainly in the Middle East and escaped damage in the Red Sea when attacked by Italian aircraft. On occasions she averaged well over 20 knots for 24-hour periods. In 1941 the Reina was taking troops from Halifax , NS to Singapore by the westabout route, but the following year she was converted into an assault ship to take part in the French North African and Sicilian landings.

At one stage in her wartime career the Reina del Pacifico was at Avonmouth when that port was subjected to a heavy air attack. She was straddled with high explosive and incendiary bombs but she escaped without damage. On another occasion whilst lying at anchor in Walton Bay she was bombed and had a similar experience at Liverpool . A delayed-action missile exploded in the dock alongside, but her luck held and the only damage she suffered was to crockery.

On 21^st October 1942 the Reina del Pacifico embarked troops for the ‘Z’ landing at Oran . She was flagship to the Senior Naval Officer Landing. The Algiers force had to be 24 hours ahead of the Oran force, so that at one stage the Reina had to steam back on her tracks for eight hours in order to pass through the Strait of Gibraltar in darkness. At 15.30 on 7^th November 1942 the Reina del Pacifico met up with the equipment ships off Oran – she was on time to the minute, and at 07.00 the following morning her landing craft took her troops ashore. Later the ship berthed in Oran harbour.

In 1943 the liner was off Gibraltar when she was attacked by German aircraft on two successive days but no hits were scored. German radio reported that the Reina was ‘torn to pieces and disappeared in a few seconds’.

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