HMS Manica

Manica prepares to launch her kite balloon off Gallipoli, 1915
History
Name	1900: Manica 1915: HMS Manica 1918: Huntball 1920: Phorus
Namesake	1901: Manica 1920: Phorus
Owner	1900: Bucknall Steamship Lines Ltd 1914: Ellerman & Bucknall SS Co Ltd 1918: Admiralty 1920: Anglo-Saxon Petroleum
Operator	1901: Bucknall Brothers 1915: Royal Navy
Port of registry	1901: London 1915: 1919: London
Builder	Sir James Laing & Sons Ltd, Sunderland
Yard number	580
Launched	25 September 1900
Completed	December 1900
Commissioned	into Royal Navy, March 1915
Decommissioned	out of Royal Navy, October 1919
Identification	UK official number 112782 1901: code letters SDGP 1915: pennant number Y4.17 1917: pennant number Y3.313 by 1930: code letters TVRP
Fate	Scrapped 1931
General characteristics
Type	1900: cargo ship 1915: kite balloon ship 1917: oil tanker
Tonnage	1914: 4,120 GRT, 2,621 NRT 1930: 4,247 GRT, 2,753 NRT
Length	360.5 ft (109.9 m)
Beam	47.0 ft (14.3 m)
Depth	28.3 ft (8.6 m)
Decks	2
Installed power	530 NHP
Propulsion	triple expansion engine
Speed	12 knots (22 km/h)
Armament	by 1916: 1 × 4-inch gun
Aircraft carried	1915: kite balloon 1916: kite balloon, plus seaplane
Notes	sister ships: Barotse, Bantu, Baralong

HMS Manica was a merchant steamship that was built in England in 1901 and was scrapped in Japan in 1931. She was built as a dry cargo ship but spent the latter part of her career as an oil tanker.

She is most notable for her service in the First World War. In 1915 she was converted into the Royal Navy's first kite balloon ship. Later in the war the Navy had her converted into an oiler. The Admiralty sold her back into civilian service in 1920.

She was renamed Huntball in 1917 and Phorus in 1920. Her original owner was Bucknall Steamship Lines Ltd, which in 1914 became part of Ellerman Lines and was renamed Ellerman & Bucknall.^[1] After the First World War she was owned by Anglo-Saxon Petroleum, which is part of Royal Dutch Shell.