RMS Ebro

The ship as Serpa Pinto in the Second World War
History
Name	1914: Ebro 1935: Princesa Olga 1940: Serpa Pinto
Namesake	1914: Ebro 1935: Princess Olga 1940: Alexandre de Serpa Pinto
Owner	1914: RMSP 1922: PSNC 1935: Jugoslavenska Lloyd 1940: Cia Colonial de Nav
Operator	1915: Royal Navy 1920: PSNC
Port of registry	1914: Belfast 1935: Dubrovnik 1940: Lisbon
Route	1920: New York – Valparaíso 1935: Trieste – Haifa 1940: Lisbon – Santos 1941: alternately Lisbon – New York; Lisbon – Santos 1945: Lisbon – Santos 1953: Vigo – Havana
Builder	Workman, Clark & Co, Belfast
Yard number	333
Launched	8 September 1914
Completed	January 1915
Out of service	1930–1935; August 1948 – January 1949
Identification	UK official number 136346 1915: code letters JHMV Royal Navy pennant numbers: April 1915: M 78 January 1918: MI 70 April 1918: MI 37 1918: call sign MTJ 1930: call sign GQRL 1935: call sign YTFK 1940: call sign CSBA
Fate	scrapped 1955
General characteristics
Type	ocean liner
Tonnage	8,480 GRT, 5,174 NRT
Length	450.3 ft (137.3 m)
Beam	57.8 ft (17.6 m)
Draught	25 ft 6 in (7.8 m)
Depth	30.6 ft (9.3 m)
Decks	2
Installed power	1,055 NHP
Propulsion	2 × quadruple-expansion engines 2 × screws
Speed	15 knots (28 km/h)
Capacity	passengers: 278 × 1st class; 328 × 2nd class
Complement	as AMC: 33 officers; 230 ratings
Crew	as ocean liner: 165
Sensors and processing systems	submarine signalling
Armament	as AMC: 6 × 6-inch QF guns 2 × 6-pounder guns depth charges
Notes	sister ship: Essequibo

RMS Ebro was an ocean liner that was launched in Ireland in 1914. With changes of ownership she was renamed Princesa Olga in 1935 and Serpa Pinto in 1940. She was scrapped in Belgium in 1955.

Ebro was launched for the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company (RMSP), but requisitioned in 1915 as the armed merchant cruiser (AMC) HMS Ebro for the Royal Navy. In 1922 RMSP transferred her to the Pacific Steam Navigation Company (PSNC). She was a Royal Mail Ship until 1935, when Jugoslavenska Lloyd bought her and renamed her Princesa Olga. In 1940 the Companhia Colonial de Navegação (CCN) bought her and renamed her Serpa Pinto.

As HMS Ebro in the First World War she served with the 10th Cruiser Squadron from 1915 to 1917, and escorted convoys between the British Isles and Sierra Leone in 1918. As RMS Ebro she sailed between New York and Chile via the Panama Canal. As Princesa Olga she sailed between Italy and Palestine. As Serpa Pinto in the Second World War she made several transatlantic crossings, on which she carried many refugees who had escaped German-occupied Europe.

This was the third of four Royal Mail ships that were named Ebro. The first was a sail- and steamship that was built in 1865 as Rakaia, bought and renamed Ebro in 1871, and wrecked in 1882.^[1] The second was a steamship that was built in 1896, sold and renamed in 1903, and sunk by a mine in 1917.^[2] The fourth was a motor ship that was built in 1952, sold and renamed in 1969, and scrapped in 1978.^[3]