SS Félix Roussel
From Our Contribution
 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | SS Félix Roussel |
| Builder/Built | 1929 Saint Nazaire |
| Type | Ocean Liner |
| Displacement | 17,084 tons |
| Speed | 16 knots |
Remarks
Félix Roussel was built by the Chantiers de l'Atlantique of Saint-Nazaire. It was designed to make long ocean crossings (up to a month and a half) in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific with many stopovers. It had two square and very short stacks.
At the beginning of the Second World War , she was requisitioned by the United Kingdom. Manned by a mixed crew of French volunteers and British, it sailed under the British flag. The first trip as a troop transport took place in October 1940 when she took Australian and New Zealand troops to Egypt in a convoy.
She made numerous troop transport trips between Bombay and Egypt, and in February 1942, participated in the evacuation of Singapore. The Félix Roussel continued to serve as a troop ship until 1945.
Post war she resumed civilian service on the Far East run before undergoing a major refit at Dunkirk, resuming service in late 1950 and continuing until 1955 when she was sold to a Swiss company who used it on the Bremerhaven-Quebec route. Renamed Arosa Sun she was then sold to a Dutch company which used it as accommodation for their workers. Eventually in 1974 she was sent to Bilbao in Spain to be scrapped.