Troopship Awatea goes down fighting

The Union Steam Ship Company’s sleek 13,482-ton trans-Tasman liner Awatea, launched in 1936, was one of the finest and fastest ships of its size in the world at the outbreak of the Second World War. Like many merchant vessels, the liner – and its civilian Merchant Navy crew – was pressed into wartime service.

Painted grey and fitted with defensive guns and anti-mine paravanes, the Awatea delivered New Zealand and Australian air trainees to Canada, shipped 2000 Canadian troops to Hong Kong, evacuated civilians from the Philippines and Singapore, and carried several thousand Free Polish troops from India to South Africa. During these missions the ship narrowly escaped a German U-boat attack in the North Atlantic and was involved in three collisions with other vessels. It also suffered a smallpox outbreak that killed two crew members.

On 8 November 1942 the Awatea took part in Operation Torch, the successful Allied invasion of Vichy-French North Africa. After landing 3000 commandos near Algiers, it ferried other troops further to the east. On the night of 11 November, off Bougie (Bejaia), the Awatea was attacked by swarms of German and Italian bombers. Although its gunners claimed to have shot down several planes, the Awatea was set on fire by bombs and holed by aerial torpedoes. Remarkably, everyone on board got off safely (although the ship’s cat was apparently killed by a bomb blast). It is thought that the abandoned, burning hulk was later sunk by the Italian submarine Argo. It was a sad end for a ship often described as the finest ever to fly the New Zealand flag.

Image: Rescued crew from the Awatea