60p RMS FRANCONIA
Visited Tristan 21 February 1939 on a cruise from New York. 4000 souvenir postcards were produced on board and sold to passengers, an image of this postcard is featured on the First Day Cover envelope. Mail was dropped off and taken on board, but no passengers could land on the island as a case of chickenpox had broken out on the ship. She was requisitioned as a troopship in 1939 and in 1945 was used as a headquarters ship for Winston Churchill and the British delegation at the Yalta Conference. At the end of the war in Europe, FRANCONIA made several trips across the Atlantic carrying returning US troops and refugees. After VJ Day she was employed repatriating British troops, including freed Prisoners of War, from India. During her government service, she had covered 319,784 miles and carried 189,239 military personnel.
Source: Tristan da Cunha press release.
Built as a passenger-cargo vessel under yard No 492 by John Brown & Co. Clydebank for the Cunard Steamship Co. Ltd., Liverpool.
21 October 1922 launched as the FRANCONIA.
Tonnage 20,175 gross, 12,162 net, dim. 190.5 x 22.45 x 12.34m., length bpp. 183.26m
Powered by six steam turbines manufactured by shipbuilder, 2,562 nhp.(13,500 shp), twin shafts, speed 16.5 knots.
Passenger accommodation for 350 first, 350 2nd and 1,500 third class passengers.
May 1923 completed, homeport Liverpool.
The RMS FRANCONIA was an ocean liner operated by the Cunard Line from 1922 to 1956. She was second of three liners named FRANCONIA which served the Cunard Line, the others being RMS FRANCONIA built in 1910 and the third FRANCONIA in 1963.
Pre-War
She was launched on 21 October 1922 at the John Brown & Co shipyard in Clydebank, Scotland. Her maiden voyage was between Liverpool and New York in June 1923; she was employed on this route in the summer months until World War II. In the winter she was used on world cruises. She had a collision in Shanghai harbour in April 1929 with an Italian gunboat and a Japanese cargo steamer.
1931 Was she chartered to the Furness-Bermuda Line for five months in the service between New York and Bermuda.
1934 Transferred to the Cunard-White Star Ltd., Liverpool not renamed.
Wartime Service
In September 1939, she was requisitioned as a troopship after refitting at Liverpool. She had a collision off Malta with the armed merchant cruiser ALCANTARA, but was repaired in time to take part in the Norwegian campaign. On 16 June 1940, while en-route to St Nazaire as part of Operation Ariel (the evacuation of the Second British Expeditionary Force from France), she was damaged by near-misses from German bombs and was escorted back to Liverpool for repairs. Her engines were unseated.
Later in the war, the FRANCONIA made several trips across the Atlantic carrying returning US troops and refugees. After VJ Day she was employed repatriating British troops, including freed Prisoners of War, from India. During her government service, she had covered 319,784 miles and carried 189,239 military personnel.
Post-war
FRANCONIA was returned to Cunard in June 1948 and was refitted on Clydeside; finally resuming passenger service on 2 June 1949 on the Liverpool to Quebec and Liverpool to Halifax routes. Passenger accommodation then for 250 first, 600 tourist class. In this role, FRANCONIA brought many post-war immigrants and refugees to Canada. The ship sailed from Liverpool 28 June 1949 and arrived Quebec 5 July and sailed from Liverpool again 21 July arriving Quebec 28 July. In July 1950 she went aground on the Île d'Orléans in the Saint Lawrence River after leaving Quebec. After being pulled off the reef she was repaired and resumed in service on the Canadian run in September 1950.
1950 Transferred to Cunard Steamship Co Ltd, Liverpool not renamed
The FRANCONIA was retired in 1956 with her fleetmate RMS ASCANIA having been replaced on the Canadian run by the SAXONIA, IVERNIA and the CARINTHIA.
The same year sold for breaking up, arrived 18 December 1956 by the shipbreaking yard of T.W. Ward in Inverkeithing, Scotland for scrapping.
Legacy
FRANCONIA's pre-war around-the-world cruises and distinguished wartime service made her a popular name within Cunard so in 1963, RMS IVERNIA was renamed FRANCONIA to continue the name within the company. In recognition of her important Canadian immigration role, Cunard Line gave the builder's model of FRANCONIA to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Tristan da Cunha 2015 60p sg?, scott?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Franconia_(1922) http://www.miramarshipindex.org.nz Merchant Fleets in profile volume 2 by Duncan Haws.