The Shipping News
Recently in a discussion with immigrants to Australia in the 60's, they mentioned that they came out from Britain in the New Australia. This ship had been rebuilt as a Shaw -Saville ship in 1949 from the fire damaged Empress of Bermuda. The Empress of Bermuda had been built in 1931 and was used as a British troopship during WW2, including carrying invasion forces to Norway. I recalled that other "Empresses" were used to carry the First Echelon NZEF and AIF troops to Egypt on Jan 1940. A 13 troopship convoy consisted of the Empress of Canada, Empress of Japan and the Empress of Britain, as well as the P&O ships Orcades, Otranto, Orion, and Orford and the ships Aquitania, Dunera, Strathaird, Strathnaver, Sobieski and Rangitata. The Convoy was protected by the Cruisers HMS Leander, HMS Ramilles, HMAS Australia, HMAS Canberra and HMAS Sydney.
Were the "Empress" ships all Shaw-Saville liners or was this only the case after the Bermuda was rebuilt in 1949? What other Empresses were there and what other troop convoys did they take part in?
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