HMS Engadine (1911)

Engadine at anchor, 1915, with a Short Brothers seaplane on her stern
History
United Kingdom
NameSS Engadine
OwnerSouth East and Chatham Railway
BuilderWilliam Denny and Brothers, Dumbarton, Scotland
Launched23 September 1911
Completed1911
FateLeased to Royal Navy, 11 August 1914
United Kingdom
NameHMS Engadine
Acquired
  • 11 August 1914
  • February 1915 (purchased)
Commissioned1 September 1914
FateSold back to owners, December 1919
United Kingdom
NameSS Engadine
OwnerSouth East and Chatham Railway/Southern Railway
AcquiredDecember 1919
FateSold, 1932
United States
OwnerFernandez Hermanos, Inc.
Acquired1933
RenamedSS Corregidor
FateSunk by mine, 17 December 1941
General characteristics (as of 1918)
TypeSeaplane carrier
Tonnage1,676 gross register tons (GRT)
Displacement2,550 long tons (2,590 t) (deep load)
Length323 ft (98.5 m)
Beam41 ft (12.5 m)
Draught13 ft 8 in (4.2 m)
Installed power
Propulsion
Speed21.5 knots (39.8 km/h; 24.7 mph)
Range1,250 nmi (2,320 km; 1,440 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement197
Armament
Aircraft carried4 × seaplanes

HMS Engadine was a seaplane tender which served in the Royal Navy during the First World War. Converted from the cross-Channel packet ship SS Engadine, she was initially fitted with temporary hangars for three seaplanes for aerial reconnaissance and bombing missions in the North Sea. She participated in the Cuxhaven Raid in late 1914 before she began a more thorough conversion in 1915 that increased her capacity to four aircraft. Engadine was transferred to the Battle Cruiser Fleet in late 1915 and participated in the Battle of Jutland in 1916 when one of her aircraft flew the first heavier-than-air reconnaissance mission during a naval battle. She was transferred to the Mediterranean in 1918.

She was sold back to her original owners in 1919 and resumed her prewar role. Engadine was sold in 1933 to a Philippine company and renamed SS Corregidor. She was sunk with heavy loss of life by a mine in December 1941 during the invasion of the Philippines at the beginning of the Pacific War.