HMS Hector (F45)

History
United Kingdom
Name	Hector
Namesake	Hector
Owner	Ocean Steam Ship Co
Operator	Alfred Holt & Co (1924–39) Royal Navy (1939–42)
Port of registry	Liverpool (1924–39)
Route	Liverpool – Far East
Builder	Scotts Shilbuilding & Eng Co
Cost	£419,254
Yard number	521
Launched	18 June 1924
Completed	19 September 1924
Commissioned	20 December 1939
Reclassified	Armed merchant cruiser 1939–42
Identification	UK official number 147282 Code letters KRLC (until 1933) Call sign GCBQ (1934 onward)
Fate	Sunk by air attack 5 April 1942 Refloated and scrapped 1946
General characteristics
Type	Refrigerated cargo and passenger liner
Tonnage	11,198 GRT 6,841 NRT
Length	498.8 ft (152.0 m)
Beam	62.3 ft (19.0 m)
Draught	26.4 ft (8.0 m)
Propulsion	steam turbines; twin screws
Speed	15 knots (28 km/h)
Sensors and processing systems	wireless direction finding (by 1934)
Armament	as armed merchant cruiser: 6 × BL 6-inch Mk XII guns 2 × QF 3-inch 20 cwt AA guns
Notes	sister ships: Sarpedon, Patroclus and Antenor

HMS Hector was a UK steam turbine passenger and refrigerated cargo liner launched in 1924. She was the fourth of six civilian ships to bear the name.^[1]

In the Second World War Hector was converted into an armed merchant cruiser. She was the eleventh HMS Hector in the history of the Royal Navy.

A Japanese air raid sank her in Ceylon in 1942. In 1946 she was raised and scrapped.