St Julien 1925

The full index of our ship stamp archive
Post Reply
shipstamps
Posts: 0
Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2009 8:12 pm

St Julien 1925

Post by shipstamps » Sat Aug 30, 2008 3:56 pm

In March 1924, the Great Western Railway placed an order with John Brown and Co. Ltd., Clydebank, for a pair of vessels of greater tonnage, to combat falling traffic on its Weymouth—Channel Islands service, due in part to out-dated steamers (the latest had been built in 1897).
On May 4, 1925, the first of these, the St. Julien, arrived at Weymouth. She was a twin-screw streamer of 1,885 gross tons, 780 net, with two funnels, her length being 282 ft. 2 in.; beam 40 ft.; depth 16 ft. 3 in.; and draft 13 ft. 33/4 in. Four steam turbines, single reduction geared to two screw shafts gave the ship a speed of 18 knots, An oil burner, she had a passenger capacity of 1,000.
Named after a saint with supposedly Guernsey connections, her second funnel was a dummy and was removed shortly after her entry into service to assist manoeuvring in a high wind. After many years regular service with her sister ship St. Helier, the vessel was withdrawn when the Weymouth—Channel Islands service was suspended upon the outbreak of war in September 1939, leaving only the Southampton route serving the islands.
The St. Julien was first used as a troopship between England and France. She then figured in the Dunkirk withdrawal, having been converted to a hospital ship and performed a similar role in Northern waters until 1943 and subsequently for some 10 months in the Mediterranean Sea. Finally she took part in the Normandy invasion.
When the war was over, the St. Julien returned to the Weymouth —Channel Islands service. With the advent of nationalisation of the railways in 1948, she came within the jurisdiction of the Southern Region, which made for better organisation and, co-ordination of the services. Her last sailing was on September 27, 1960; in the following year she was broken up in Belgium. SG80
Attachments
SG80.jpg
St Julien.jpg

Post Reply