SS Ranpura [SEP] manufacturer
SS Ranpura
The SS "Ranpura" was a British passenger and cargo carrying ocean liner built by R. & W. Hawthorn Leslie and Company at Newcastle upon Tyne for the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company in 1924. She was the first of the P&O 'R' class liners that had much of their interiors designed by Lord Inchcape's daughter Elsie Mackay. She was launched 13 September 1924 and sponsored by C.C. Straker, wife of the chairman of Hawthorn Leslie and Company.
In 1936, she was assigned to transport $
merchant cruiser HMS "Ranpura". The installation of eight six-inch guns gave her the firepower of a light cruiser without the armoured protection.
World War II.
Her sister ships SS "Rawalpindi", SS "Ranchi" and SS "Rajputana" were also converted to armed merchant cruisers. Except for small corvettes, the converted passenger ships like HMS "Ranpura" were the only armed protection for most of the early convoys. With their six-inch (152 mm) guns, they were the