Torpedoed and sunk 2 July 1940
Built: Cammell Laird & Company Ltd., Birkenhead
As Built: Gross: 12847 Net: 7815 Dimensions: 512.2 x 68.3 x 34.0 feet
As refitted 1928/29: Gross: 14694 Net: 8578 Dimensions: 512.2 x 68.3 x 42.5 feet
Propulsion: Four steam turbines by shipbuilder, single reduction geared to two shafts
Type: Refrigerated Passenger / Cargo Liner
Passengers: As built: 164 1st Class As cruise liner: 354 1st Class
Launched: 4/1/1927 as Arandora for Blue Star Line (1920) Ltd.
Completed: 5/1927
Refitted: 1929 as cruise liner by Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Ltd., Glasgow
Renamed: 1929 Arandora Star
Refitted: 1936 Mainmast removed and accommodation extended to poop
Transferred: 1937 to Frederick Leyland & Co. Ltd. (Blue Star Line Ltd. managers)
By reason of her exclusive pre-war employment as a cruising liner, the Arandora Star was probably one of the best-known ships in the world. Built by Messrs. Cammell Laird of Birkenhead and completed in 1927 more or less as a sister ship to the Almeda , Andalucia, Avelona and Avila for the fast passenger and refrigerated cargo service to South America. She soon became employed as a cruising liner for pleasure voyages to Norway, Northern capitals, the Mediterranean and the West Indies. A twin-screw steam turbine ship of 15,300 tons with a speed of 16 knots, she was altered in 1934 and again in 1935, when her accommodation was extended aft and her mainmast was removed. With her white hull and scarlet ribbon she sometimes went by the name of the "chocolate box" or "wedding cake".
Lost: 2/7/1940 when torpedoed by German Submarine U-47 about 75 miles west of the Bloody Foreland in position 55.20N, 10.33W [7] , and later sank in position 56.30 N, 10.38W. She was on a voyage from Liverpool to St. John's, Newfoundland, with internees and prisoners of war. A total of 805 persons were lost.
