Dates: 1939 - 1945
HMS Pretoria Castle was initially an armed merchant cruiser and subsequently an escort carrier of the Royal Navy. She had originally been the liner Pretoria Castle of the Union-Castle Line, built at Harland & Wolff shipyards in Belfast, Northern Ireland and launched in 1938.
She was requisitioned by the Royal Navy in October 1939, and converted to an armed merchant cruiser with 6-inch and 3-inch guns, entering service the following month. In this role she served mainly in the South Atlantic.
In July 1942 she was bought outright by the Navy for conversion to an escort carrier at the Swan Hunter shipyards in Tyne and Wear. She was commissioned in this role in July 1943 and operated as a trials and training carrier with no active combat service. She de-commissioned in December 1945.
She was sold back to the Union-Castle Line in 1946 and converted to a cargo liner, renamed Warwick Castle, operating on routes to South Africa. She was finally sold and scrapped in Barcelona in 1962.
Association:
Fleet Air Arm Association
3 Arundel Drive
Fareham Hants PO16 7NP
E-mail: ajt915704@aol.com
Website: http://www.fleetairarmarchive.net/FAAA/Index.htm
