HMT Aragon
Aragon in 1908 as a civilian ocean liner | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom | |
| Name |
|
| Namesake | The Spanish Kingdom of Aragon |
| Owner | Royal Mail Steam Packet Co |
| Operator |
|
| Port of registry | Belfast |
| Route |
|
| Builder | Harland & Wolff, Belfast |
| Yard number | 367 |
| Launched | 23 February 1905 |
| Completed | 22 June 1905 |
| Maiden voyage | 14 July 1905 |
| Out of service | 30 December 1917 |
| Identification |
|
| Fate | Sunk by torpedo 30 December 1917 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | RMSP "A" series |
| Type | Ocean liner |
| Tonnage | |
| Length | 513.2 ft (156.4 m) |
| Beam | 60.4 ft (18.4 m) |
| Depth | 31.0 ft (9.4 m) |
| Installed power | 762, 827 or 875 NHP |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed |
|
| Boats & landing craft carried | 12 lifeboats, 1 dinghy, 1 gig |
| Capacity |
|
| Crew | As troop ship: 200 |
| Armament | 2 × stern-mounted QF 4.7-inch (120 mm) guns (from 1913) |
| Notes |
|
HMT Aragon, originally RMS Aragon, was a 9,588 GRT transatlantic Royal Mail Ship that served as a troop ship in the First World War. She was built in Belfast, Ireland in 1905 and was the first of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company's fleet of "A-liners" that worked regular routes between Southampton and South American ports including Buenos Aires.
In 1913 Aragon became Britain's first defensively armed merchant ship ("DAMS") of modern times. In the First World War she served as a troop ship, taking part in the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915. In 1917, a German submarine sank her in the Mediterranean, killing 610 of the personnel aboard.