HMS Menestheus

HMS Menestheus in 1945 as an amenities ship
History
United Kingdom
Name	Menestheus
Namesake	Menestheus
Owner	Ocean SS Co Ltd
Operator	1929: A Holt & Co 1940: Royal Navy 1946: A Holt & Co
Port of registry	Liverpool
Builder	Caledon Sb & Eng Co, Dundee
Yard number	326
Launched	6 August 1929
Completed	December 1929
Commissioned	into Royal Navy, 1940
Decommissioned	returned to owners, 1946
Identification	UK official number 161134 code letters LPHV call sign GBDT 1940: pennant number M93
Fate	Burnt out in 1953, then scrapped
General characteristics
Type	1929: refrigerated cargo ship 1940: auxiliary minelayer
Tonnage	7,771 GRT, 4,818 NRT, 9,140 DWT
Length	560.0 ft (170.7 m)
Beam	59.4 ft (18.1 m)
Depth	29.2 ft (8.9 m)
Decks	2
Installed power	1,295 NHP
Propulsion	2 × screws 2 × four-stroke diesel engines
Speed	15.5 knots (28.7 km/h)
Crew	81 (as cargo ship)
Sensors and processing systems	by 1933: wireless direction finding by 1937: echo sounding device by 1953: radar
Armament	3 × 4-inch guns 2 × 2-pounder guns 12 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannon 438 × mines
Notes	sister ships: Agamemnon, Deucalion, Memnon, Ajax

HMS Menestheus was originally the Blue Funnel Line refrigerated cargo ship Menestheus. She was built in 1929, and traded between the UK and the Far East. She was an auxiliary minelayer from 1940 to 1943. In 1945, during the Second World War, she was converted into an amenities ship. She was scrapped in 1953 after being gutted by fire.

She was the first of three Blue Funnel Line ships to be named after Menestheus, the legendary king of Athens during the Trojan War. She was the only Royal Navy ship to be called Menestheus.