HMS Engadine (1911)

For other ships of the same name, see HMS Engadine.

HMS Engadine (1911)
Career (United Kingdom)
Name:	SS Engadine (1911-14) HMS Engadine (1914-20) SS Engadine (1930-33) SS Corregidor (1933-41)
Builder:	William Denny and Brothers
Laid down:	1910
Launched:	23 September 1911 as commercial cross-channel ferry
Commissioned:	13 August 1914
Decommissioned:	November 1919
Renamed:	Corregidor on return to merchant service
Struck:	1919
Homeport:	London (1911-14) Royal Navy (1914-20) London (1920-33) Manila (1933-41)
Fate:	sold back to original owners. Sunk by mine in 1941, as commercial ship
General characteristics
Displacement:	1,676 tons
Length:	316 ft (96 m)
Beam:	41 ft (12 m)
Draught:	16 ft (4.9 m)
Propulsion:	Steam turbine, 6,000 shp (4 MW), triple screw
Speed:	21 knots (39 km/h) maximum
Complement:	250
Armament:	Four x 12 pdr (5.4 kg) guns Two x 3 pdr (1.4 kg) and one 2 pdr (907 g) anti-aircraft gun added in 1915
Aircraft carried:	four - six Short 184 seaplanes

HMS Engadine was a seaplane tender which served in the First World War. She was built as a Folkestone-Boulogne ferry by William Denny and Brothers, launched on 23 September 1911 and named after the Engadine valley in Switzerland. She was taken over by the Royal Navy in 1914 and modified, with the construction of cranes and a hangar aft of the funnels, so that she could carry four Short 184 floatplanes. There was no flight deck, the aircraft being lowered onto the sea for takeoff and recovered again from the sea after landing.

Her aircraft participated in the Cuxhaven Raid on Christmas Day 1914. At the Battle of Jutland in 1916, one of her seaplanes, piloted by Lieutenant Frederick S. Rutland carried out an aerial reconnaissance of the German fleet. This was the first time that a heavier-than-air aircraft had carried out a reconnaissance of an enemy fleet in action. Later in the battle she rescued the crew of the crippled HMS Warrior before taking her in tow. Later in the war she served in the Mediterranean.

She was sold back to her original owners, the South Eastern and Chatham Railway in December 1919.

By 1941, the ship had been renamed SS Corregidor and was working in the Philippines. On 17 December 1941, the ship — loaded with approximately 1,200 passengers fleeing Manila — was sunk by a mine off Corregidor most likely laid by Japanese submarine I-124. American PT boats PT-32, PT-34 and PT-35 rescued 282 survivors, 7 of whom later died from injuries.

References

• Bruce, J. M. (2001). Short 184. Windsock Datafile. 85. Berkhampstead, Hertfordshire, UK: Albatros Productions. OCLC 295877455. 
• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475. 
• Chesneau, Roger (1995). Aircraft Carriers of the World, 1914 to the Present: An Illustrated Encyclopedia (New, Revised ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-902-2. 
• Cressman, Robert (2000). "Chapter III: 1941". The official chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-149-3. OCLC 41977179. http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN-Chron/USN-Chron-1941.html. Retrieved 2007-12-18. 
• Friedman, Norman (1988). British Carrier Aviation: The Evolution of the Ships and Their Aircraft. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-054-8. 
• Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal, eds (1984). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships: 1906–1922. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5. 
• King, H. F. (1980). Sopwith Aircraft 1912–1920. London: Putnam. ISBN 0-370-30050-5. 
• Layman, R. D. (1989). Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1859–1922. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-210-9.