MS Dunnottar Castle

The ship as The Victoria in 1985
History
Name
  • Dunnottar Castle (1936–58)
  • Victoria (1958–75)
  • The Victoria (1976–93)
  • Princesa Victoria (1993–2004)
NamesakeDunnottar Castle (1946–58)
OwnerUnion-Castle Mail SS Co Ltd (1936–58)
Operator
Port of registryLondon (1936–58)
RouteTilburySouth Africa (1936–39, 1948–58)
BuilderHarland and Wolff
Yard number959
Laid down1935
Launched25 January 1936
Completed27 June 1936
Maiden voyageJuly 1936
Out of service2004
Identification
FateScrapped at Kumar Steel Breakers Yard in India, 2004
General characteristics
Tonnage
  • as built:
  • 15,007 GRT
  • tonnage under deck 11,585
  • 9,181 NRT
Length540.0 ft (164.6 m)
Beam71.9 ft (21.9 m)
Draught28 ft 2 in (8.59 m)
Depth37.8 ft (11.5 m)
Decks3
Installed power1,931 NHP
Propulsiontwin screw, built with Burmeister & Wain 2-stroke diesel engines, replaced in 1959 with Fiat diesel engines
Speed16 knots (30 km/h) as built, later 18 knots (33 km/h)
Capacity285 first class, 250 tourist class as built, 696 single-class at the time of scrapping
Crew250 as built
Sensors and
processing systems
Armament
Notessister ship: Dunvegan Castle

MS Dunnottar Castle was a British-built passenger ship with a career of more than six decades that included periods as an ocean liner, an armed merchant cruiser (AMC), a troop ship and several decades as a cruise ship. As a cruise ship she was renamed Victoria, then The Victoria and finally Princesa Victoria.

Harland and Wolff built Dunnottar Castle and her sister ship Dunvegan Castle in Belfast in 1936. Union-Castle Line operated Dunnottar Castle on scheduled services between Tilbury and South Africa until 1939, when the Admiralty requisitioned her and commissioned her as HMS Dunnottar Castle. From 1949 to 1958 she served again on Union-Castle's liner route between Britain and South Africa.

The ship's long career in cruising began in 1958 in the ownership of the Incres Steamship Company, who had her extensively remodelled and renamed her Victoria. Clipper Line bought her in 1964 and sold her in 1975 to Chandris Lines, who modified her name to The Victoria. In 1993 Louis Cruise Lines bought her and renamed her Princesa Victoria.

The ship was laid up from 2002 and scrapped in India in 2004.