The SS Kościuszko was a
PolishPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
passenger shipA passenger ship is a ship whose primary function is to carry passengers. The category does not include cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the ubiquitous twelve-passenger freighters once common on the seas in which the transport of passengers is...
, named after
Tadeusz KościuszkoAndrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko was a Polish–Lithuanian and American general and military leader during the Kościuszko Uprising. He is a national hero of Poland, Lithuania, the United States and Belarus...
.
She was originally a liner Tsarina and later Lituania before becoming the Kościuszko and afterwards Empire Helford.
It was ordered by the
Russian American LineThe Russian American Line was a subsidiary steamship line of the East Asiatic Company that was in business from 1900 until the time of the Russian Revolution in 1917. In 1906 it began passenger service from Libau to New York after the Hamburg America Line acquired a controlling interest in the...
prior to the outbreak of
World War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and was to serve as an
ocean linerAn ocean liner is a ship designed to transport people from one seaport to another along regular long-distance maritime routes according to a schedule. Liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes .Cargo vessels running to a schedule are sometimes referred to as...
under the name SS Czaritza or Tsarina, operating with up to 1000 passengers between
New YorkNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and
ArkhangelskArkhangelsk , formerly known as Archangel in English, is a city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina River near its exit into the White Sea in the north of European Russia. The city spreads for over along the banks of the river...
. Launched in 1915 by Barclay, Curle & Co. Ltd.,
GlasgowGlasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, she served as a troop transport ship. Evacuated from Russia during the
Russian Civil WarThe Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
, she was bought by
Cunard LineCunard Line is a British-American owned shipping company based at Carnival House in Southampton, England and operated by Carnival UK. It has been a leading operator of passenger ships on the North Atlantic for over a century...
in 1917 and was used as a troop transport between USA and Europe and between Great Britain and
MaltaMalta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
.
Interwar period
In 1920 she returned to Arkhangelsk, this time with the Allied expeditionary forces. In January 1921 she was bought by
DanishDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
Baltic-American Line and was renamed to SS Lituania.
She operated on various trans-oceanic lines, including a circulary
HalifaxHalifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...
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New YorkNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
-
CopenhagenCopenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
-
GdańskGdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...
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LiepājaLiepāja ; ), is a republican city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea directly at 21°E. It is the largest city in the Kurzeme Region of Latvia, the third largest city in Latvia after Riga and Daugavpils and an important ice-free port...
. In 1930 she was bought by the Polish Transatlantic Ship Association and renamed SS Kościuszko. She arrived at
GdyniaGdynia is a city in the Pomeranian Voivodeship of Poland and an important seaport of Gdańsk Bay on the south coast of the Baltic Sea.Located in Kashubia in Eastern Pomerania, Gdynia is part of a conurbation with the spa town of Sopot, the city of Gdańsk and suburban communities, which together...
on 8 June 1930 and on 20 June the Polish banner was raised. Initially with a mixed Polish-Danish crew, after 1931 the ship's was crew was entirely Polish. SS Kościuszko served on the
GdyniaGdynia is a city in the Pomeranian Voivodeship of Poland and an important seaport of Gdańsk Bay on the south coast of the Baltic Sea.Located in Kashubia in Eastern Pomerania, Gdynia is part of a conurbation with the spa town of Sopot, the city of Gdańsk and suburban communities, which together...
-Copenhagen-Halifax line, as well as a tourist ship for shorter cruises. In 1934 it came to Ellis Island-the website was wrong. In 1935 SS Kościuszko started to operate the
ConstanţaConstanța is the oldest extant city in Romania, founded around 600 BC. The city is located in the Dobruja region of Romania, on the Black Sea coast. It is the capital of Constanța County and the largest city in the region....
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HaifaHaifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
line and in October 1936 on a line to South America. Rendered obsolete by the more modern
MS BatoryThe M/S Batory was a large ocean liner of the Polish merchant fleet, named after Stefan Batory, the famous sixteenth-Century king of Poland....
and MS Piłsudski, in early 1939 she was withdrawn from service.
World War II
During
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
she was mobilized by the
Polish NavyThe Marynarka Wojenna Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej - MW RP Polish Navy, is the branch of Republic of Poland Armed Forces responsible for naval operations...
and was evacuated to
DartmouthDartmouth is a town and civil parish in the English county of Devon. It is a tourist destination set on the banks of the estuary of the River Dart, which is a long narrow tidal ria that runs inland as far as Totnes...
in the UK prior to the outbreak of the
Polish Defensive WarThe Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
. On 10 November 1939 she was commissioned under the new name of ORP Gdynia. Initially serving as a troop transport, she was considered unsuitable for service at sea and served instead as a base ship in the United Kingdom. She housed a canteen, a hospital, a Naval
NCOA non-commissioned officer , called a sub-officer in some countries, is a military officer who has not been given a commission...
school and several other offices. During that period she was visited by, among others,
Winston ChurchillSir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
and King
George VIGeorge VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...
. During the German air raid on
Denver, NorfolkDenver is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is located on the River Great Ouse, 1 mile south of the small town of Downham Market, 14 miles south of the larger town of King's Lynn, and 37 miles west of the city of Norwich.The civil parish has an area of...
, on 25 September, she was hit by two aerial bombs, but swift action by the crew prevented the ship from catching fire. On 30 June 1941 she was decommissioned and returned to the Polish merchant marine under her old name. Chartered to the British Lamport and Holt Line, she served as a troop transport in the
Indian OceanThe Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
and
MalayaBritish Malaya loosely described a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the Island of Singapore that were brought under British control between the 18th and the 20th centuries...
. She was attacked by Japanese aircraft several times and in 1943 was hit by a torpedo, which however did not explode.
Withdrawn to the Mediterranean, she took part in the Allied Invasion of Sicily. Then she returned to Indian Ocean, this time as a part of United Maritime Authority. In April 1946 she was sold to the
LiverpoolLiverpool 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...
-based Lamport and Holt Line, renamed to SS Empire Helford and continued to serve as a troop transport and for transportation of displaced persons. In 1949 she was withdrawn from service and was scrapped the following year in
BlythBlyth is a town and civil parish in southeast Northumberland, England. It lies on the coast, to the south of the River Blyth and is approximately 21 kilometres northeast of Newcastle upon Tyne...
.
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