SS Himalaya (1892)

Himalaya in 1902
History
United Kingdom
Name	Himalaya
Namesake	Himalayas
Owner	1892: P&O SN Co 1916: Admiralty 1919: P&O SN Co 1922: Board of Trade
Operator	1892: P&O 1914: Royal Navy
Port of registry	1902: Greenock 1914:
Route	1893: Tilbury – Suez Canal – Sydney 1908: Britain – Japan
Builder	Caird & Company, Greenock
Yard number	266
Launched	27 February 1892
Completed	24 June 1892
Acquired	by Admiralty, 21 June 1916
Commissioned	by Admiralty, August 1914
Recommissioned	by Admiralty, 11 April 1916
Decommissioned	by Admiralty, 16 June 1918
Maiden voyage	Tilbury – Bombay, Nov–Dec 1892
Identification	UK official number 99776 code letters MQDN by 1913: call sign MNY 1914: Pennant number M.67
Fate	Scrapped 1922
General characteristics
Type	Ocean liner
Tonnage	6,929 GRT, 3,706 NRT
Length	465.6 ft (141.9 m)
Beam	52.2 ft (15.9 m)
Depth	26.4 ft (8.0 m)
Decks	2
Installed power	1,356 NHP, 10,000 IHP
Propulsion	1 × triple expansion engine 1 × screw
Speed	17+1⁄2 knots (32.4 km/h)
Capacity	1892: 265 1st class 144 2nd class
Crew	249
Armament	1914: 8 × QF 4.7 inch guns from 1916: QF 6-inch naval guns plus machine guns by 1917: .303 calibre machine guns 1917: as above plus 2 × 6-pounder guns by 1918: .45 calibre as well as .303 machine guns 1918: BL 6-inch gun replaced one 6-inch naval gun
Aircraft carried	1916: 1 × seaplane
Notes	sister ships: Victoria, Britannia, Oceana, Arcadia, Australia

SS Himalaya was a P&O steam ocean liner that was built in Scotland in 1892 and scrapped in Germany in 1922. She operated scheduled services between England and Australia until 1908, and then to and from Japan until 1914.

Although built as a civilian ship, Himalaya was designed to be suitable for conversion to an auxiliary cruiser if required. In the First World War she served as a Royal Navy armed merchant cruiser from 1914, and was equipped with a seaplane from 1916.

This was the second P&O liner to be called Himalaya. The first Himalaya was completed in 1854, spent most of her career in the Royal Navy as a troop ship and then a coal hulk, and was sunk by enemy action in 1940.^[1] The third Himalaya was completed in 1949 and scrapped in 1975.^[2]