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HMT Duntroon

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HMT Duntroon
HMT Duntroon.jpg
HMT Duntroon 2.jpg
Members of the 2nd Australian Prisoner of War Reception Group disembark from the MV Duntroon in Singapore, 13 Sep 1945 (AWM 117237)
History
Name HMT Duntroon
Owner Melbourne Steamship Company
Builder Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Wallsend-on-Tyne
Yard number 1460
Launched 4 April 1935
Completed August 1935
In service 1935
Out of service 1967
Fate scrapped 1968
General characteristics
Type Passenger ship
Tonnage 10,346 tons
Length 455.0 ft (138.7 m)
Beam 65.2 ft (19.9 m)
Depth 30.2 ft (9.2 m)
Propulsion twin screw
Speed 19 knots (35.19 km/h)
Capacity 373 passengers



Contents

Remarks

Built for the Melbourne Steamship Company with a capacity of 373 passengers, and used on the east coast-Fremantle route. She saw military service between 1942 and 1949. Originally intended as an Armed Merchant Cruiser, she was found to be unsuitable for this role and was returned to her owners. In November 1940 the Duntroon collided with and sank the auxiliary minesweeper HMAS Goorangi near the entrance to Port Phillip Bay. All 24 crew of the Goorangi perished.


In February 1942 she was requisitioned for use as a troopship, and was used amongst other things to transport Australian troops home from the Middle East before commencing duties in the south Pacific. In November 1943 she was involved in a second sinking when she sank the destroyer, USS Perkins with the loss of 9 Americans near Ipoteto Island off the coast of New Guinea. Both sinkings were investigated and the Duntroon was found not to be responsible for either of them.


Her army duty complete in 1946 she was turned over to the RAN for transport duties with the Occupying Force in Japan. Returned to her civilian owners in 1950, in 1961 she was sold to Kie Hock Shipping Company. Renamed Tong Hoo she was used on the Hong Kong-Indonesia passenger service. Sold again in 1966 to the Africa Shipping Company, and renamed Lydia before being laid up in Singapore in 1967 and sailed to Taiwan for scrapping in 1973.

Soldiers carried

Fremantle to Adelaide 21 - 25 July 1941

2/4th Machine Gun Battalion

Fremantle to Melbourne 31 October - early November 1941

Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) to Melbourne 25 March - 15 May 1942

Milne Bay, New Guinea to Brisbane 2 - 6 January 1942

Brisbane to Port Moresby, New Guinea 2 - 10 November 1942

Port Moresby, New Guinea to Townsville 5 - 7 December 1942

Port Moresby, New Guinea to Townsville 19 March - 22 March 1943

Townsville to Port Moresby, New Guinea 8 - 11 May 1943

Townsville to Port Moresby, New Guinea 16 - 20 June 1943

Townsville to Port Moresby 19 - 22 Jul 1943

Townsville to Port Moresby, New Guinea 31 July - 2 August 1943

Townsville to Port Moresby, New Guinea 6 - 8 August 1943

Townsville to Buna, Papua New Guinea 22 - 27 November 1943

Sydney to Darwin 18 - 28 February 1944

Finschhafen, New Guinea to Townsville 4 - 8 May 1944

Brisbane to Wewak, New Guinea 12 - 18 July 1944

Brisbane to Madang, New Guinea 25 August - 2 September 1944

Cairns to Aitape, New Guinea 3 - 7 November 1944

Brisbane to Aitape, New Guinea 24 -27 November 1944

Torokina, Bougainville to Sydney 13 - 19 February 1945

Brisbane to Lae, New Guinea 2 - 7 May 1945

Brisbane to Madang, new Guinea 18 - 25 May 1945

Brisbane to Torokina, Bougainville & Lae New Guinea 5 - 13 June 1945

Torokina, Bougainville to Newcastle, NSW 26 July - 1 August 1945

Morotai, Dutch East Indies to Townsville 26 October to 9 November 1945

Wewak, New Guinea to Brisbane 1 - 7 December 1945

Rabaul, New Britain to Brisbane 3 - 13 January 1946

Sydney to Kure, Japan 12 March to 9 April 1946

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