&sq=&lang=&file=File:Ben-my-Chree_(III).JPG) RMS Ben-my-Chree
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| History | |
|---|---|
 Isle of Man | |
| Name | Ben-my-Chree |
| Namesake | Manx Gaelic term for Girl of my Heart |
| Owner | 1908–1915: IOMSPCo. 1915-1917: Admiralty |
| Operator | 1908–1915: IOMSPCo. |
| Port of registry | Douglas, Isle of Man |
| Route | Douglas - Liverpool |
| Builder | Vickers Sons and Maxim |
| Cost | £112,100 |
| Yard number | 363[1] |
| Laid down | 1908 |
| Launched | 23 March 1908 |
| Completed | July 1908 |
| Maiden voyage | 15 July 1908[2] |
| Out of service | 1915 |
| Reclassified | 1915 as HMS Ben-my-Chree |
| Refit | 1915 |
| Homeport | Douglas |
| Identification | |
| Nickname(s) | The Ben |
| Fate | Requisitioned 1915 by the Admiralty, converted by Cammell Laird's to Seaplane Carrier. Sunk by Turkish gunfire off Island Kastellorizo, January 1917. Wreck raised August 1920 and towed to Piraeus for scrap. |
| Notes | Most powerful and fastest steamer to serve with the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company Fleet. |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Passenger Steamer |
| Tonnage | 2,651 gross register tons |
| Length | 390 feet (120 m) |
| Beam | 46 feet (14 m) |
| Depth | 18 ft 6 in (5.6 m) |
| Decks | 5 |
| Propulsion | 3 sets of Parson's single-reduction geared turbines, working at 170 pounds per square inch (1,200 kPa) in turn developing 14,000 shp (10,000 kW) |
| Speed | 24.2 knots (27.8 mph) but reputed to have attained 26.9 knots (31.0 mph) |
| Capacity | 2,700 passengers |
| Crew | 116 |
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TSS (RMS) Ben-my-Chree (III) No. 118605 – the third vessel in the company's history to be so named – was a passenger steamer operated by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company between 1908 and 1915. Ben-my-Chree was requisitioned by the Admiralty in 1915 and converted to a seaplane carrier; commissioned as HMS Ben-my-Chree, she was sunk by Turkish batteries on 11 January 1917.
Ben-my-Chree was built in 1908 at the Vickers Sons and Maxim shipyard, Barrow in Furness. She was the fifth ship built in the Barrow yard for the Isle of Man Steam Packet, and was launched by Mrs. J. T. Cowell at 13:45hrs on Monday 23 March 1908.[4]
Ben-my-Chree is regarded as amongst the finest and certainly the fastest of vessels ever to serve the line.[4]
In appearance she was said to resemble a mini Cunarder rather than a conventional cross-channel steamer, proudly being described by the company as: "the fastest and most luxuriously appointed channel steamer afloat."
During the early part of the 20th century, speed of service was very much at the fore for shipping companies plying the Irish Sea routes to the Isle of Man; an article in the Daily Mail of July 1908 stated:
What the Lusitania is to the Atlantic the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company's new steamer Ben-my-Chree will probably be to the Irish Sea. There can, of course, be no comparison as to size between the leviathan Cunarders and the speedy little Manx boats, but for years there has been a quiet, determined contest between the vessels of the two Companies for sea-going speed honours. The diminutive boats plying from Liverpool to Douglas claimed pride of place until the advent of the Lusitania and Mauritania. Infected by the competitive spirit, the Directors of the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company resolved that their next vessel should not be far behind the race. The Ben-my-Chree, it is asserted, can reach over 25 knots and it is expected to reduce the record time (2hrs 56 mins) from Liverpool to Douglas, at present held by the turbine steamer Viking, by six minutes at least. Apart from the contest for speed honours there are many points of similarity between the Manx vessels and the new Cunard liners.
— The Daily Mail. Saturday 11 July 1908.