SS Gothic
Encyclopedia
Cargo liner
A Cargo liner is a type of merchant ship which carried general cargo and often passengers. They became common just after the middle of the nineteenth century, and eventually gave way to container ships and other more specialized carriers in the latter half of the twentieth...
launched in 1947. She was the fourth and final of the Corinthic class liners ordered by the Shaw, Savill & Albion Steamship Co. in 1946—her sister ships being , and .
The quartet would join the much larger QSMV Dominion Monarch on the UK to New Zealand service. Each ship would be around 15,000 GRT
Gross Register Tonnage
Gross register tonnage a ship's total internal volume expressed in "register tons", one of which equals to a volume of . It is calculated from the total permanently enclosed capacity of the vessel. The ship's net register tonnage is obtained by reducing the volume of non-revenue-earning spaces i.e...
and accommodate 85 first class passengers. Each had 6 large holds, with space for 668000 cubic feet (18,915.7 m³) of cargo, of which 510,000 was for refrigerated goods.
SS Gothic was built by Swan Hunter
Swan Hunter
Swan Hunter, formerly known as "Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson", was one of the best known shipbuilding companies in the world. Based in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, the company was responsible for some of the greatest ships of the early 20th century — most famously, the RMS Mauretania which...
, Wallsend-on-Tyne (yard 1759) and became the most famous of the quartet—becoming Royal Yacht
Royal Yacht
A royal yacht is a ship used by a monarch or a royal family. If the monarch is an emperor the proper term is imperial yacht. Most of them are financed by the government of the country of which the monarch is head...
in 1952–3. She was launched on 12 December 1947, completed in December 1948, and departed on her maiden voyage on 23 December 1948, sailing from Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
to Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
.
Royal Yacht
In 1952, SS Gothic was sent to Cammell LairdCammell Laird
Cammell Laird, one of the most famous names in British shipbuilding during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, came about following the merger of Laird, Son & Co. of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co. of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century.- Founding of the business :The Company...
shipyards to be refitted to become the Royal Yacht
Royal Yacht
A royal yacht is a ship used by a monarch or a royal family. If the monarch is an emperor the proper term is imperial yacht. Most of them are financed by the government of the country of which the monarch is head...
for a tour of Australia and New Zealand. Although the tour was cancelled due to the death of King George VI
George VI of the United Kingdom
George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...
, considerable work had already been completed and she returned in 1953 to complete the refit—which included a white-painted hull.
She was then used for Queen Elizabeth II's coronation world tour in 1954.