SS City of Benares

City of Benares during her sea trials
History
United Kingdom
Name	City of Benares
Namesake	Benares (now Varanasi)
Owner	Ellerman Lines Ltd, London
Operator	Ellerman City Line Ltd
Port of registry	Glasgow
Route	Peacetime: Liverpool - Mumbai, Karachi, Colombo, Madras, and Calcutta via Suez Canal or South Africa Wartime: Liverpool - Montreal, Quebec, and New York City
Builder	Barclay, Curle & Co, Whiteinch, Glasgow
Yard number	656
Launched	5 August 1936
Completed	October 1936
Acquired	15 October 1936
Maiden voyage	24 October 1936
In service	24 October 1936
Refit	3 September 1939
Identification	UK official number 164096 call sign GZBW
Nickname(s)	Benares The Children's Ship The Children's Liner
Fate	Sunk by submarine on 17 September 1940
General characteristics
Type	Ocean liner
Tonnage	11,081 GRT 6,720 NRT
Displacement	17,000 tons
Length	509 ft (155.1 m) overall 486.1 ft (148.2 m) registered
Beam	62.7 ft (19.1 m)
Draught	28 ft 5+3⁄4 in (8.68 m)
Decks	3
Propulsion	Three Cammell Laird steam turbines (1,450 hp (1,080 kW)), single reduction geared driving a single steel screw
Speed	15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) recommended 17.75 knots (32.87 km/h; 20.43 mph) maximum reached
Capacity	219 passengers (single class)
Crew	209
Armament	DEMS (wartime)

SS City of Benares was a British steam turbine ocean liner, built for Ellerman Lines by Barclay, Curle & Co of Glasgow in 1936.^[1] During the Second World War, City of Benares was used as an evacuee ship to transport 90 children from Britain to Canada. German submarine U-48 sank her by torpedoes in September 1940 with the loss of 260 people out of a complement of 408,^[2][3] including the death of 77 of the evacuated children. The sinking caused such public outrage in Britain that it led to Winston Churchill cancelling the Children's Overseas Reception Board (CORB) plan to relocate British children abroad.^[4]