HMS Forfar (F30)


HMS Forfar , formerly the ocean liner SS Montrose, was an armed merchant cruiser commissioned into Royal Navy service in 1939 and sunk in 1940.

Construction and history

SS Montrose

The ship was built by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in Glasgow, Scotland, as the passenger ship SS Montrose for the Canadian Pacific Steamships Company and was launched on 14 December 1920, sponsored by Lady Raeburn, the wife of the Director-General of the British Ministry of Shipping.
About the 20 March 1925, the Montrose was in Saint John, New Brunswick, as a local paper reported that the ship's band put on an excellent performance in that city.
Montrose ran aground on 7 August 1925 in the Saint Lawrence River in Canada. She was refloated on 10 August 1925 and drydocked for repairs to her rudder and port-side propeller.
On 31 March 1928, Montrose was in Saint John, New Brunswick as reported in the 2 April 1928 Telegraph-Journal, a Saint John newspaper.
On 31 July 1928, Montrose collided with the British cargo ship in the Saint Lawrence River, Quebec, Canada; Rose Castle beached herself to avoid sinking, but was refloated on 3 August 1928.
On 12 April 1930, Montrose was announced as being about to set sail for "Canada" from Southampton, England. A paper from shortly after this reported that it was due on the 20th in Saint John, New Brunswick.
The 21 April 1930 Telegraph-Journal reports Montrose arrived that morning in Saint John, New Brunswick, and was scheduled to sail on the 23rd from there for Cherbourg, Southampton and Antwerp.

HMS Forfar

On 4 September 1939, Montrose was requisitioned by the British Admiralty for World War II service with the Royal Navy and converted to an armed merchant cruiser. Her conversion was completed on 6 November 1939 and she was commissioned into Royal Navy service as HMS Forfar.
On 2 December 1940 Forfar, operating on the Northern Patrol, was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine under the command of Otto Kretschmer. Forfar was en route to join convoy OB 251 and was about 500 nautical miles west of Ireland. Thirty-six officers, including her commanding officer, Norman Arthur Cyril Hardy, and 136 men lost their lives. The survivors were rescued by the Royal Canadian Navy destroyer, the British destroyer, and the British cargo steamer Dursley.