HMS Nairana (1917)

37°50′27″S 144°55′13″E / 37.8407°S 144.9204°E / -37.8407; 144.9204

Nairana in dazzle camouflage Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox ship image with unknown parameter "alt"
History
Australia
Name	Nairana
Namesake	Tasmanian word for wedge-tailed eagle
Owner	Huddart Parker
Ordered	22 January 1914
Builder	William Denny and Brothers, Dumbarton, Scotland
Cost	£129,830
Laid down	1914
Launched	21 June 1915
Fate	Purchased by Royal Navy, 27 February 1917
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Nairana
Cost	£138,118
Acquired	27 February 1917
Commissioned	25 August 1917
Fate	Sold to original owner, January 1921
Owner	Huddart Parker
Acquired	1921
Identification	United Kingdom official number 143476 Code letters THPM
Fate	Transferred to Tasmanian Steamers, January 1922
Owner	Tasmanian Steamers
Port of registry	Melbourne
Acquired	January 1922
Out of service	February 1948
Identification	United Kingdom official number 143476 Code letters THPM (1922-34) Code letters VJGY (1934-54)
Fate	Wrecked 18 February 1951 and scrapped 1953–54
General characteristics
Type	Seaplane carrier
Displacement	3,070 long tons (3,119 t)
Length	315.8 feet (96.3 m) p/p 352 ft (107.3 m) o/a
Beam	45.6 ft (13.9 m)
Draught	13 ft 2 in (4.0 m) (mean)
Installed power	6,700 shp (5,000 kW) 6 × water-tube boilers
Propulsion	2 × shafts, 2 × geared steam turbines
Speed	19.5 knots (36.1 km/h; 22.4 mph)
Range	1,060 nmi (1,960 km; 1,220 mi) at 19.5 kn (36.1 km/h; 22.4 mph)
Complement	278
Armament	4 × 76 mm (3.0 in) 12 cwt guns
Aircraft carried	7–8
Aviation facilities	1 × flying-off deck forward

HMS Nairana (/naɪˈrɑːnə/) was a passenger ferry that was requisitioned by the Royal Navy (RN) as a seaplane carrier in 1917. She was laid down in Scotland in 1914 as TSS Nairana for the Australian shipping line Huddart Parker, but construction was suspended after the outbreak of the First World War. Following resumption of work, the ship was launched in 1915, and converted to operate wheeled aircraft from her forward flying-off deck, as well as floatplanes that were lowered into the water. She saw service during the war with the Grand Fleet, and in 1918–19 supported the British intervention in the Russian Civil War.

Nairana was returned to her former owners in 1921 and refitted in her original planned configuration, and spent the next 27 years ferrying passengers and cargo between Tasmania and Melbourne. She was twice struck by rogue waves in Bass Strait, and nearly capsized on both occasions. Nairana was the only Bass Strait ferry not requisitioned for military service in the Second World War, and so became the sole passenger ship with service to Tasmania during the conflict. She was laid up in 1948, wrecked in a storm three years later and scrapped in situ in 1953–54.