RMS Empress of Russia - World War II

World War II

The Empress was again commissioned by the British Admiralty as a troop transport. Initially, she carried Australian and New Zealand Air Force recruits to Canada for flight school training. In March 1941, she was refitted at dockyards on the River Clyde in Scotland.

The Captain of the Empress in 1941-42 would only realize many years later that he had had a VIP aboard—a young Midshipman Philip Mountbatten (later to become Duke of Edinburgh) is remembered for having helped stoke the boilers in 1941.

The Empress was involved in the North Africa landings in 1943. In October 1943, she made a special trip to Gothenburg to exchange prisoners of war. This was followed by seven trips to Reykjavík for the RAF.

In early 1944, she was used as an accommodation ship at Rosyth for Russian crews who were to take over a number of British warships. In June, she was moved to Spithead where she was used as a depot ship for tugs after the D-Day landings.

In October 1944, she sailed to Gareloch where she was laid up until June 1945. Work was begun on the refitting the Empress for service transporting Canadian troops from Europe to North America; However, she was gutted by fire on 8 September 1945 at Barrow. The extensive damage caused the ship to be scrapped; and she was broken up by T. W. Ward & Sons.