HMS Ambrose (1903)

HMS Ambrose was a cargo liner bought by the Royal Navy from the Booth Steamship Company early in World War I and converted into an armed merchant cruiser. Later in the war she was converted into a submarine depot ship and spent most of the 1920s supporting submarines in the Far East. Upon her return home in 1928, Ambrose was placed into reserve. The ship was later modified to support destroyers and did so throughout World War II before she was sold for scrap in 1946.

Description
Ambrose was 387 ft long overall, had a beam of 47 ft, and a draught of 20 ft. She was rated at approximately 4,000 GRT. The ship had one propeller shaft powered by a vertical triple-expansion steam engine rated at 6350 ihp that used steam generated by an unknown number of coal-fired cylindrical boilers. In passenger service, she had a crew of about 102 officers and crewmen. SS Ambrose could carry 149 passengers in first class and 330 in steerage as originally built.

As an armed merchant cruiser, the ship's armament consisted of eight 4.7 in guns and she displaced 6600 LT. After her conversion to a submarine depot ship, Ambrose is noted as having a maximum speed of 14.5 kn, an armament of two quick-firing 12-pounder anti-aircraft guns, and had a crew of 238 officers and enlisted men. Much of her passenger accommodations would have been modified to serve the crews of her submarines as part of her conversion.

Construction and career
Ambrose was built by the Sir Raylton Dixon & Company shipyard, as yard number 496, in Middlesbrough for the Booth Steamship Company. The ship was launched on 31 March 1903 and began her maiden voyage, from Liverpool to Manaus, Brazil, on 20 September. She apparently ran aground on 3 October 1906 and was repaired by Hawthorn Leslie at Hebburn. The repairs also included an increase in her passenger capacity through an enlarged poop deck and lasted until 30 March 1907.

The ship was requisitioned and commissioned as HMS Ambrose on 10 December 1914 for service as an armed merchant cruiser. She was purchased on 20 October 1915 and converted into a submarine depot ship in 1917. Ambrose was stationed at Berehaven, Ireland in January 1918 and transferred to Falmouth, Cornwall in November. In 1919, the ship was based in Devonport until September when she departed for the Far East to support the 4th Submarine Flotilla through 1928. She sailed from Hong Kong on 28 March of that year and was paid off into the Maintenance Reserve on 4 December at Rosyth.

The sources are unclear when she was converted to support destroyers; she was renamed HMS Cochrane on 1 June 1938. Cochrane served as a depot ship during World War II and was paid off on 1 March 1946. The ship was sold for scrap in August and arrived at the breaker's yard at Inverkeithing on 13 November 1946.