HMS Hilary (1914)

History
United Kingdom
Name	Hilary
Namesake	Hilary of Poitiers
Owner	Booth Steamship Co
Operator	Booth Steamship Co 1908–1914 Royal Navy 1914–1917
Port of registry	Liverpool
Route	Liverpool – Brazil
Builder	Caledon Shipbldg & Eng Co, Dundee
Cost	£124,000
Yard number	200
Launched	31 March 1908
Completed	August 1908
Maiden voyage	8 August 1908
Identification	UK official number 127917 code letters HMTB call sign MDP Pennant number M 90 (1914–17)
Fate	Torpedoed and sunk on 25 May 1917
General characteristics
Type	1907: ocean liner 1914: armed merchant cruiser
Tonnage	6,326 GRT, 3,626 NRT
Length	418.5 ft (127.6 m)
Beam	52.2 ft (15.9 m)
Depth	35.3 ft (10.8 m)
Installed power	848 NHP
Propulsion	2 × triple-expansion engines 2 × screws
Speed	14.5 knots (26.9 km/h; 16.7 mph)
Capacity	passengers: 200 first class 300 third class
Armament	as armed merchant cruiser: 6 × 6-inch guns 2 × 6-pounder guns
Notes	sister ships: Lanfranc, Antony

HMS Hilary was a Booth Line passenger steamship that was built in Scotland in 1908 and operated scheduled services between Liverpool and Brazil until 1914. In the First World War she was an armed merchant cruiser (AMC) until a U-boat sank her in the Atlantic Ocean in 1917.

This was the second Booth ship to be called Hilary. The first was a cargo ship that was built in 1889 as Red Sea, bought by Booth and renamed Hilary in 1892, sold in 1911 to Japanese buyers and renamed Misumi Maru.^[1] The third was a passenger and cargo liner that was built in 1931, served as an ocean boarding vessel, landing ship, infantry and headquarters ship in the Second World War, returned to civilian service in 1946 and was scrapped in 1959.^[2]