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PORT HOBART (1)
was built in 1925 by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson at Newcastle
with a tonnage of 7448grt, a length of 466ft 10in, a beam of 59ft
10in and a service speed of 12 knots. Sister of the Port Dunedin
she was delivered in July 1925. On 4th November 1940 she sailed
from Liverpool as part of a convoy bound for New Zealand. Sixteen
days later she left the convoy to head for the Panama Canal on her
own. On 24th November at 11.15 hrs, as she headed for the Sombrero
Channel and the Caribbean, smoke was spotted to the north west and
closing very fast. As no Allied vessels were reported to be in the
area the master soon realised that it was German and an 'RRR' signal
was sent out. At 11.57 hrs the unidentified raider opened fire with
large calibre guns from a range of two miles and, as instructed, the
Port Hobart stopped. The raider, which turned out to be the
pocket battleship Admiral Scheer, put an armed party aboard.
The crew took to the lifeboats and a launch was sent to disembark
the only lady passenger before the Admiral Scheer sank the
Port Hobart with gunfire.
PORT HOBART (2)
was built in 1946 by Harland &
Wolff at Belfast with a tonnage of 11138grt, a length of 540ft 6in,
a beam of 70ft 6in and a service speed of 16 knots. She was launched
on 5th December 1945 as the Empire Wessex, one of four
similar ships based on a Shaw, Saville & Albion design, but
completed as the Port Hobart. On 10th March 1968 she became
the 56th ship to come under the Management of Blueport and two years
later, on 27th August 1970 sailed from Colombo to Shanghai where she
was broken up.
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