Official No: 129003
Builder: John Brown & Co Ltd., Clydebank
Launched: April 1909
Pennant No: 4.436
Into Service: 1918 & January 1940
Out of service: 1918 & June 1945
Fate: 3rd Quarter 1951
Items of historic interest involving this ship: –
Background Data: One of an additional group of ships requisitioned by the Admiralty during WW1 and WW2 to augment the ships of the RFA
Career Data:
April 1909 launched by John Brown & Co Ltd., Clydebank as Yatd Nr: 386 named GOLDEN EAGLE for General Steam Navigation Co., London
June 1909 completed
February 1915 and November 1919 steamed 52,140 miles carrying 513,00 troops without incident.
6 September 1918 requisitioned for Admiralty service – name unchanged
November 1918 conversion to a minelayer was not completed at the end of hostilities
3 December 1918 returned to her owners – name unchanged
January 1940 again requisitioned for Admiralty service, initially as a trooper (Dunkirk) and then as an Auxiliary A A Ship and finally as an Accommodation ship – commissioned as HMS GOLDEN EAGLE, armed with 4 x 2pdr single AA, 2 x 20mm single AA, 2 quadruple .303, 2 quadruple .303, 2 light MG, 2 quadruple rocket launchers
May 1940 crossed the Channel to rescue troops at Dunkirk. The 285 survivors from the mined PMS Crested Eagle were returned to Margate
31 May 1940, 1,000 troops were rescued
3 June 1940 the last vessel to leave the Dunkirk area
June 1940 based at Sheerness with Lieutenant J R Dent RNR as Commanding Officer
28 December 1940 Assistant Cook John DeCarlo discharged dead. He is remembered with pride on the Liverpool Naval Memorial
January 1941 based at Harwich with Lieutenant G T Blake RNR as Commanding Officer
17 January 1941 Greaser Alfred Patrick Lane discharged dead. He buried in Gravesend Cemetery in plot B12 Grave 2851 and is also remembered with pride on a screen wall in the Cemetery
June 1945 returned to her owners and name reverted to GOLDEN EAGLE
7 June 1948 berthed on Clacton Pier
3q/1951 arrived Grays, Essex for demolition by T W Ward Ltd
Notes:
- During WW1 she ferried aeroplanes, their crews and support staff across to the Continent
- She had the distinction of being the most successful Thames Excursion Steamer ever