MV Walmer Castle (1936)

History
*1936: 1941: United Kingdom
Name	Walmer Castle
Namesake	Walmer Castle
Owner	Union-Castle Line
Operator	Union-Castle Line
Port of registry	London
Route	Southampton – Bremen – Hamburg
Builder	Harland and Wolff, Belfast
Yard number	983
Launched	17 September 1936
Completed	30 November 1936
Identification	UK official number 165337 call sign GZDF
Fate	Damaged by air attack; Sunk by gunfire
General characteristics
Type	Cargo liner
Tonnage	906 GRT 350 NRT
Length	236.2 ft (72.0 m)
Beam	39.3 ft (12.0 m)
Draught	14 ft 5 in (4.39 m)
Depth	12.5 ft (3.8 m)
Decks	2
Installed power	539 NHP
Propulsion	2-stroke single-acting diesel engine
Speed	14 knots (26 km/h)
Sensors and processing systems	wireless direction finding

MV Walmer Castle was a UK cargo liner. She was launched in 1936 in Northern Ireland, and was the smallest ocean-going ship in the Union-Castle Line fleet. For three years she provided a scheduled weekly cargo feeder service linking Union-Castle liners that terminated at Southampton with the German ports of Bremen and Hamburg.

In the Second World War she first served in the tramp trade with France and in home waters, then in 1940 became an armament supply ship. In 1941 she was converted into a convoy rescue ship. On her first Atlantic convoy an enemy air attack crippled her. After the survivors had abandoned her, Royal Navy ships sank her by gunfire.