Dieppe was a steamship which was built in 1905 for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway

London, Brighton and South Coast Railway

The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1922. Its territory formed a rough triangle, with London at its apex, practically the whole coastline of Sussex as its base, and a large part of Surrey...

. She was requisitioned during the First World War for use as a troopship

Troopship

A troopship is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime...

 and later as a hospital ship

Hospital ship

A hospital ship is a ship designated for primary function as a floating medical treatment facility or hospital; most are operated by the military forces of various countries, as they are intended to be used in or near war zones....

 HMS Dieppe, returning to her owners postwar. She passed to the Southern Railway

Southern Railway (Great Britain)

The Southern Railway was a British railway company established in the 1923 Grouping. It linked London with the Channel ports, South West England, South coast resorts and Kent...

 on 1 January 1923

Railways Act 1921

The Railways Act 1921, also known as the Grouping Act, was an enactment by the British government of David Lloyd George intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, move the railways away from internal competition, and to retain some of the benefits which...

. In 1933, she was sold to W E Guinness

Walter Guinness, 1st Baron Moyne

Walter Edward Guinness, 1st Baron Moyne DSO & Bar PC was a Anglo-Irish politician and businessman. He served as the British minister of state in the Middle East until November 1944, when he was assassinated by the militant Jewish Zionist group Lehi...

 and converted to a private yacht

Steam yacht

A steam yacht is a class of luxury or commercial yacht with primary or secondary steam propulsion in addition to the sails usually carried by yachts.-Origin of the name:...

, Rosaura. She was requisitioned during the Second World War for use as an armed boarding vessel, HMS Rosaura. She struck a mine and sank off Tobruk

Tobruk

Tobruk or Tubruq is a city, seaport, and peninsula on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near the border with Egypt. It is the capital of the Butnan District and has a population of 120,000 ....

, Libya

Libya

Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....

 on 18 March 1941.

Description

The ship was built by Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co Ltd

Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company

The Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Limited was a British shipbuilding company in the Govan area on the Clyde in Glasgow. Fairfields, as it is often known, was a major warship builder, turning out many vessels for the Royal Navy and other navies through the First World War and the...

, Govan

Govan

Govan is a district and former burgh now part of southwest City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the south bank of the River Clyde, opposite the mouth of the River Kelvin and the district of Partick....

. She was yard number 439 and was launched on 6 April 1905 with completion in May 1905. The ship was 273 in 5 in (83.34 m) long, with a beam of 34 in 8 in (10.57 m) and a depth of 13 in 8 in (4.17 m). She was powered by three steam turbine

Steam turbine

A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884....

s, which were made by Fairfield. The turbines could propel her at a speed of 22 knots (43.1 km/h). When converted to a private yacht, the turbines were replaced by two 8-cylinder Atlas

Atlas Copco

Atlas Copco is a Swedish industrial company that was founded in 1873. It manufactures industrial tooling and equipment.The Atlas Copco Group is a global industrial group of companies headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Revenues for 2009 totaled 63 billion SEK. The Group employs more than 33,000...

 diesel engines. One of her propellers was removed as was one of her funnels. Her speed was reduced to 15 knots (29.4 km/h). As built, her GRT was 1,210. This had increased to 1,426 by 1930, and further increased to 1,536 in 1933.

History

Dieppe was built for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway. She was used on their Newhaven

Newhaven, East Sussex

Newhaven is a town in the Lewes District of East Sussex in England. It lies at the mouth of the River Ouse, on the English Channel coast, and is a ferry port for services to France.-Origins:...

 - Dieppe

Dieppe, Seine-Maritime

Dieppe is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in France. In 1999, the population of the whole Dieppe urban area was 81,419.A port on the English Channel, famous for its scallops, and with a regular ferry service from the Gare Maritime to Newhaven in England, Dieppe also has a popular pebbled...

 route. She was requisitioned by the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 during the First World War for use as a troopship and a hospital ship

Hospital ship

A hospital ship is a ship designated for primary function as a floating medical treatment facility or hospital; most are operated by the military forces of various countries, as they are intended to be used in or near war zones....

. Dieppe was returned to her owners postwar and was taken over by the Southern Railway at Grouping. On 27 November 1924, Dieppe had a mishap in which she ended up hitting the breakwater at Newhaven Harbour stern first. The tugs

Tugboat

A tugboat is a boat that maneuvers vessels by pushing or towing them. Tugs move vessels that either should not move themselves, such as ships in a crowded harbor or a narrow canal,or those that cannot move by themselves, such as barges, disabled ships, or oil platforms. Tugboats are powerful for...

 Alert and Richmere were sent to her aid. Richmere became disabled when a cable became entangled around her propellor. The Newhaven Lifeboat Sir Fitzroy Clayton was sent to her aid. Richmere ended up being dashed against the harbour wall and sank. Her crew were rescued by the lifeboat and the tug was later raised and repaired. Dieppe managed to dock some five hours after the drama began.

In September 1933, Dieppe was sold to W E Guinness for conversion to a private yacht. She was renamed Rosaura, replacing Roussalka which had been lost earlier that year. In August 1934, Prince Edward

Edward VIII of the United Kingdom

Edward VIII was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth, and Emperor of India, from 20 January to 11 December 1936.Before his accession to the throne, Edward was Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay...

 and Wallis Simpson took a cruise on Rosaura. According to Wallis, it was during this cruise that she fell in love with Prince Edward. Also in 1934, Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...

 and his wife Clementine

Clementine Churchill, Baroness Spencer-Churchill

Clementine Ogilvy Spencer-Churchill, Baroness Spencer-Churchill, GBE, CStJ was the wife of Sir Winston Churchill and a life peeress in her own right.-Early life:...

 cruised on Rosaura in the eastern Mediterranean.

Rosaura was requisitioned by the Royal Navy in the Second World War for use as an armed boarding vessel in the Contraband Control Service. In February 1940, Rosaura was involved in Operation Abstention

Operation Abstention

Operation Abstention was the code name given to the British invasion of the Italian island of Kastelorizo, off Turkey, during the Second World War, on late February 1941...

. On 18 March 1941, Rosaura struck a mine

Naval mine

A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, an enemy vessel...

 off Tobruk and sank.

Official number and code letters

Official Numbers were a forerunner to IMO Numbers. Dieppe and Rosaura had the United Kingdom Official Number 105655. Dieppe used the Code Letters

Code letters

Code letters were a method of identifying ships before the introduction of modern navigation aids. Later, with the introduction of radio, code letters were also used as radio callsigns.-History:...

HCRB.