SS Automedon

History
United Kingdom
NameAutomedon
NamesakeAutomedon
OwnerOcean Steamship Co Ltd
OperatorAlfred Holt & Co
Port of registryLiverpool
BuilderPalmers Sb and Iron Co, Jarrow
Yard number920
Launched4 December 1921
CompletedMarch 1922
Identification
Fatescuttled 11 November 1940 2°34′N 70°56′E / 2.567°N 70.933°E / 2.567; 70.933
General characteristics
Typerefrigerated cargo ship
Tonnage
Length459.4 ft (140.0 m)
Beam58.4 ft (17.8 m)
Draught26 ft 2 in (7.98 m)
Depth32.6 ft (9.9 m)
Decks2
Installed power6,000 SHP
Propulsion
Speed14.5 knots (27 km/h)
Capacity111,000 cubic feet (3,143 m3)
Sensors and
processing systems
From 1934: wireless direction finding
NotesOne of a class of 11 sister ships

SS Automedon was a Blue Funnel Line refrigerated cargo steamship. She was launched in 1921 on the River Tyne as one of a class of 11 ships to replace many of Blue Funnel's losses in the First World War.

A converted German auxiliary cruiser and merchant raider Atlantis captured and scuttled Automedon in 1940 in the Indian Ocean.[1] Her capture is notable because she was carrying top secret documents addressed to the British Far East Command. Their capture may have influenced Japan's decision to enter the Second World War.

Automedon was Achilles' charioteer in Homer's Iliad. This was the first of three Blue Funnel Line ships to be named after him. The second was a motor ship launched in 1949 and scrapped in 1972.[2] The third was a motor ship launched in 1948 as Cyclops, renamed Automedon in 1975 and scrapped in 1977.[3]

  1. ^ "The Cruise of the German Raider Atlantis, 1940 - 1941". U.S. Naval Institute. 1 December 1949. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
  2. ^ "Automedon". Tyne Built Ships. Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  3. ^ "Cyclops". Scottish Built Ships. Caledonian Maritime Research Trust. Retrieved 29 December 2020.