SS Cyclops (1906)
| History | |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom | |
| Name | Cyclops |
| Namesake | cyclops in Greek mythology |
| Owner | Ocean Steam Ship Co |
| Operator | Alfred Holt & Co |
| Port of registry | Liverpool |
| Builder | D&W Henderson, Glasgow |
| Yard number | 449 |
| Launched | 23 March 1906 |
| Completed | 1906 |
| Identification |
|
| Fate | Sunk, 11 January 1942 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage | |
| Length | 485.0 ft (147.8 m) |
| Beam | 58.2 ft (17.7 m) |
| Depth | 39.5 ft (12.0 m) |
| Installed power | 585 NHP |
| Propulsion | 2 × 3-cylinder triple-expansion engines; twin screws |
| Speed | 13.5 knots (25 km/h) |
| Crew | 96 plus 7 DEMS gunners |
| Sensors & processing systems | wireless direction finding |
| Armament | DEMS (in wartime) |
SS Cyclops was a British cargo steamship of Alfred Holt and Company (Blue Funnel Line). She was built in Glasgow in 1906, served in both the First and Second World Wars and survived two German submarine attacks in 1917. A German submarine sank her in January 1942 off the coast of Nova Scotia, killing 87 of the men aboard her. This was the first attack of the Kriegsmarine's Unternehmen Paukenschlag ("Operation Drumbeat") to destroy Allied merchant shipping in the Western Atlantic.
This Cyclops was the second of four Alfred Holt ships to bear the name. The first was a two-masted sail and steamship built in 1880, transferred in 1894 to Alfred Holt's Dutch joint venture Nederlandsche Stoomvaart Maatschappij Oceaan and sold in 1902 to Uruguayan buyers who renamed her Iberia. The third was a motor ship built in 1948, renamed Automedon in 1975 and scrapped in 1977. The fourth was built in 1975, sold to Greek buyers in 1983 and renamed Procyon.