Pretoria Castle
Ship Number
1006
Vessel Type
Passenger Ship
Built
Belfast
Slip Number
3
Launch Date
October 12, 1938
Launched By
Mrs T E Water
Delivered
April 18, 1939
Owner
Union-Castle Mail Steamship Co.
Weight
17382 grt
BP Length
560 feet
Breadth
76 feet
No. of Screws
Twin
Speed (approx)
19 knots
Propulsion
B&W Direct Acting (D.A.) Diesel
Official No.
167220
Registered
London
Fate
Scrapped
Pretoria Castle

One funnel, twin screw, speed 19 knots, accommodation for 220-1st and 335-tourist class passengers.Sister of the Durban Castle she commenced her maiden voyage as the Pretoria Castle on the 20th April 1939. During her second voyage she damaged her rudder when she grounded in Delagoa Bay necessitating repairs at Prince Edward Dock, Durban. On completion of that voyage she was requisitioned for use as an Armed Merchant Cruiser being fitted with eight 6 inch guns together with AA and machine guns. With a black hull and buff upper works and funnel she was commissioned in the November and based at Freetown in Sierra Leone.
 
In 1942 she was replaced by one of the new light cruisers and sold to the Admiralty for conversion into an aircraft carrier. With fifteen aircraft and equipped with one catapult she was commissioned on 18th March 1943 but was used purely for training purposes.
She was re-purchased by Union-Castle in January 1946and rebuilt to her original specification but, because a new mail ship was under construction with Pretoria Castle as her designated name, she was renamed Warwick Castle.
 
Resuming commercial on 13th March 1947 she initially served on the mail run until the new mail ships joined the fleet and then reverted to the Round Africa service in 1950.
On 26th July 1962 she arrived at Barcelona where she was scrapped.  
 
[Merchant Fleets, vol.18 by Duncan Haws]