SS Czar

SS Czar in port before May 1920
History
Name	SS Czar (Царь)
Owner	1912–1930: East Asiatic Company 1930–1934: PTTO 1934–1946: Gdynia America Line 1946–1949: Ministry of War Transport
Operator	1912–1917: Russian American Line 1917: Wilson Line 1917–1920: Cunard Line 1920–1930: Baltic American Line 1930–1934: PTTO 1934–1946: Gdynia America Line 1940: Fabre Line 1940–1949: Lamport and Holt
Port of registry	1912–1917: Libau 1917–1920: London 1920–1921: Liepāja 1921–1930: Copenhagen 1930–1946: Gdynia 1946–1949: Liverpool
Route	1912–1914: Libau – New York 1914–1917: Arkhangelsk – New York (in summer) 1914–1917: Romanov-na-Murmane – New York (in winter) 1920–1930: Liepāja – Danzig – Copenhagen – New York 1930–1935: Danzig – New York 1935–1939: Gdynia – Buenos Aires 1940: Marseille–Dakar
Builder	Barclay, Curle & Company Glasgow, Scotland
Yard number	494
Launched	23 March 1912
Maiden voyage	Libau – Copenhagen – New York, 30 May 1912
Renamed	SS Estonia, January 1921 SS Pułaski, April 1930 SS Empire Penryn, 16 April 1946
Identification	code letters PBRF (until 1933) call sign SPEC (from 1934)
Fate	Scrapped 1949
General characteristics
Type	Ocean liner
Tonnage	6,345 GRT tonnage under deck 4,801 3,820 NRT
Length	425 ft (130 m)
Beam	53.2 ft (16.2 m)
Draught	32 ft 4 in (9.86 m)
Depth	29.4 ft (9.0 m)
Installed power	889 NHP
Propulsion	2 × quadruple expansion steam engines; twin screws
Speed	15 knots (28 km/h)
Capacity	Passengers (as built): 30 first class 260 second class 1,086 third class and steerage
Troops	2,050 troops (World War II)
Sensors and processing systems	gyrocompass (from 1934)
Notes	two funnels; two masts

SS Czar^[a] was an ocean liner for the then Russian American Line before World War I. In 1920-1930, the ship was named Estonia for the Baltic American Line, then named Pułaski for the PTTO (later Gdynia America Line) and as a UK Ministry of War Transport troopship, and as Empire Penryn after World War II. The liner was built in Glasgow for the Russian American Line in 1912 and sailed on North Atlantic routes from Liepāja (Libau) to New York. On one eastbound voyage in October 1913, Czar was one of ten ships that came to the aid of the burning Uranium Line steamer Volturno.

After the Russian Revolution in 1917, the ship came under the control of the UK Shipping Controller and was managed by the Wilson Line and later, the Cunard Line. Under Cunard management in 1918 as HMT^{[Note 1]} Czar, she was employed as a troopship carrying United States troops to France as part of the United States Navy's Cruiser and Transport Force. After the end of World War I, the ship was returned to the East Asiatic Company, the parent company of the Russian American Line, who placed her on their Baltic American Line sailing in roundtrip passenger service to New York under the name Estonia.

In 1930 the East Asiatic Company sold Baltic American Line to Polish owners who renamed the company Polskiego Transatlantyckiego Towarzystwa Okrętowego ("Polish Transatlantic Shipping Company Limited" or PTTO).^[1] In 1931 PTTO renamed the ship Pułaski for passenger service to North and South America. In 1934 PTTO became Gdynia – America Line.

After the outbreak of World War II Pułaski served as an Allied troopship, at first under French control and, after the Fall of France, under UK control. Pułaski sailed variously in the North Atlantic, between African ports, and in the Indian Ocean. In 1946 the ship's name was changed to Empire Penryn and she continued trooping duties under the management of Lamport and Holt. She was scrapped in 1949 at Blyth.

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