- Yes
- No
History
Prince David was originally a 3 funnel steam cruise ship that operated out of Canada’s west coast. After a major refit they were converted to an armed merchant cruiser in 1939 and a infantry landing ship in 1943. She was one of three Prince Class ships in the RCN. They weren’t tied to the escorts traveling to Europe rather they were initially sent out to search for enemy vessels. When the three cruise ships were being converted Prince David was in desperate need of repairs having been neglected due to low usage during the Great Depression. As such her hull had fouled, her wooden deck rotted, and her bulkheads had rusted thin. At the time of conversion she and her sister ships were some of the largest ships in RCN.
On April 7, 1941 while stationed in Bermuda hunting two Axis merchant ships she was abruptly tasked with locating the missing HMS Voltaire, another armed merchant cruiser, that had last reported being under attack. Quickly changing course she would eventually come across a grim sight. An oil patch with bits of flotsam, the remains of Voltaire who was attacked by the axillary cruiser Thor. The sight did little to raise the moral of the crew who knew that the Voltaire was similar ship to the one they were serving on. On Aug 24, Prince David was sent to rendezvous with the HMS Circassia, another AMC. While on route through a dense fog she came across and unknown vessel who failed to reply to Prince David. After 50 minutes from contact the mysterious vessel sailed off. Today it is still unknown what the ship was though some of the most fanciful tales claim that the Prince David had chased off the Admiral Hipper or Thor.
From the 24-27 of July 1942 Prince David took part in filming of the wartime movie Commandos Strike at Dawn in which she took part in mock bombardments. One problem with filming was that all shots with the Prince David had to be filmed of her starboard side as it wasn’t seen as believable that the ship went into battle with a large truck full of sound equipment on her weather deck. In August she and her sister ships were assigned to assist the US Navy in fighting the Japanese on the Aleutian Islands as force “D”. They didn’t see any action during this venture and only transported troops to the ports.
Shot of Prince David in Commandos Strike at Dawn
By the fall the flaws of the vessels were thrown into sharp relief and it was requested that the Prince David be refitted into a Landing Ship Infantry (medium). This refit involved the removal of the positively antique 6-inch guns and replacing them with four QF 4-inch naval gun Mk XVI in twin mounts as well as 2 40mm bofors and 10 Oerlikon 20 mm anti aircraft guns.
While doing escort work in the Bering Sea the Prince David ran into problems when the convoys continued to get pummeled with gale force winds, sometimes force 10, the ship would struggle to keep up. Part of the problem was that even as a cruise ship she tended to roll very easily. At one point Prince David was traveling with her leeward shaft going twice the speed as the other just to go straight. Despite this there were very few incidents with the ship.
After the war she was reconverted back into a cruise/cargo ship under the name Charlton Monarch, but her service life was short. Throughout the war she had spent a considerable amount of time aground and at one point in the Mediterranean a mine blew open a 17 ft wide hole in her. All this as well as neglect led to her only remaining in service for 6 years before being towed to Swansea and broken up for scape in 1951.
More Photos
Stats
DIMENSIONS (OF ALL THREE)
Length(O/A): 385’
Length(P.P): 366.25’
Beam: 57’
Draft: 16.5’ trials
DISPLACEMENT
Full Load: 6,893 tons
Standard: 5,579 tons
Net: 3,072 tons
PROPULSION
Boilers: 6 Yarrow water tube, 5 drum super-heat main, plus 2 Scotch Marine, 3 burner auxiliary
Turbines: Parsons reaction 3-stage reduction geared
Range: 3,500 NM @ 20 knts ~ 6,000 NM @ economical speed
Horsepower: 19,300 ihp @ 267 rpm ~ 14,500 shp
Shafts: 2
Max Speed: 22.25 knts
ARMAMENT
Main Gun:
4 x 6"/45 cal in 2 single mounts forward and 2 aft 1895 pattern (AMC)
4 x 4" HA/LA in two twin mounts (Henry & David as LCI M)
Secondary Gun
2 x 3" HA in two single mounts (AMC) 1916 cruiser vintage
2 x 40mm Bofors (Henry & David as LCI M)
ASW
2 stern mounted depth charge chutes for Mk.VIII 300 lb.canister depth charges (AMC)
RADARS
Air Search
Type 291 Air Warning (added ./44)
Surface Search
Type 123 Asdic (added Apr.20/42)
Type 271P (./43)
Type 271Q (./43)
Type 86TBS aerials (./43)
No radars initially fit
COMPLEMENT
AMC: 241
Cargo: Henry/David as LCI M ~ crew 322 (32 officers)
Hospital Facilities: 60
Wardroom Accommodation: 90
Landing Craft: 8 - 20 ton LCA (4 per side)
Landing Troops: 550 army personnel
Equipped as built with an internal elevator with a loading capacity of two (2) cars
References
https://legionmagazine.com/en/2010/04/the-three-princes-navy-part-38/
http://www.forposterityssake.ca/Navy/HMCS_PRINCE_DAVID_F89.htm