Dominion Monarch

Introduction

Dominion Monarch was completed by Swan, Hunter & W. Richardson in 1939 for Shaw, Savill & Albion Co. Ltd. She was one of a kind, the pride of Swan Hunter and probably the last 'First Class only' passenger liner to be built. In her time she set many records and was built for the service between Britain, Australia and New Zealand. During WW2 she was stripped down to basics and served as a troopship. At the end of the war she was engaged in repatriating troops, including many who had been taken prisoner, to Australia and New Zealand.

She returned to her previous role in 1947 after a complete refit. She spent her last few months as a floating hotel at the Century 21 Exposition in Seattle in 1962 and was then taken to Japan to be scrapped.

Basic Data

Additional Construction Information

• Construction costs of this luxury vessel were £1.5 Million.
• 3 decks with 4th deck in foreward holds and 5th deck in No. 1 hold
• Cruiser stern
• Decks and butts of topside plating electrically welded - a new technique in British shipyards at the time - but the remainder of the vessel was constructed by riveting.
• Fitted with gyro compass
• She was fitted with radio direction-finding and echo sounding equipment

The image below shows a plan of the vessel.

The following photos show Dominion Monarch at the Swan Hunter shipyard.

Swan Hunter was rightly proud of Dominion Monarch and used her image on advertisements shortly after her completion.

Career Highlights

Service Before WW2

Dominion Monarch left King George V Dock on the Isle of Dogs on 17 February 1939 for Southampton for her maiden voyage to Australia and New Zealand. She called at Tenerife, Cape Town, Durban, Fremantle, Melbourne, Sydney and reached Wellington NZ on 24 April 1939. Records set during this trip included fastest passage from the UK to Australia via the Cape of Good Hope, largest ship to Australia and largest ship to New Zealand.

Pathe News had a short news item about the departure from Southampton.

A regular service ensued with the standard time for the passage from the UK to New Zealand being 35 days with fares from £58. Due to the time taken in loading and unloading cargo she was only able to make three round trips per year.

Service in WW2

With the outbreak of WW2, the crew started painting the vessel grey and on 8-9 September she was fitted with an old 6" naval gun and an anti-aircraft gun at Sydney. For some time she continued the service to Australia and New Zealand but, with the advent of submarine attacks, there was little demand for the service and additional cargo was carried in lieu of passengers.

In August 1940, Dominion Monarch was requisitioned by the Admiralty as a troopship. Her luxury accommodation was stripped out over a six week period at Liverpool and she was configured to carry 142 Officers and 1,341 'other ranks'. She was immediately put into service and took an anti-aircraft regiment to Egypt via the Cape as the Mediterranean was too risky due to submarine attacks. In November she was altered further in Sydney with an increase in armament and reconfiguration of the accommodation.

Troopship duties included bringing troops from Australia, New Zealand and Canada to the UK and taking troops to Singapore. Unfortunately most of those taken to Singapore ended up as prisoners of the Japanese following their invasion. She was also heavily involved in bringing US troops to the UK in preparation for D-Day and carried German prisoners of war to Australia. At the end of the war she carried large numbers of troops back to their home countries.

Convoys

Dominion Monarch took part in many convoys and a very large number of independent voyages during WW2 according to information shown in the table below which is provided courtesy of Convoyweb [4]. Further details of the individual convoys can be found on Convoyweb.

Repatriation of Troops

One of the last tasks of the WW2 period was the repatriation of Allied POWs. The photo below shows Dominion Monarch arriving at Darling Harbour Sydney with 710 Australian troops being returned from POW camps in Germany.

And another trip brought members of the Maori Battalion home to New Zealand.

Service After WW2

Dominion Monarch Passenger Accommodation After the 1947 Refit

When Dominion Monarch was returned to Shaw Savill in 1947 she was taken to Swan Hunter and refitted as a luxury liner with just one class. The refit cost of £1.5 Million was much as the original construction costs and took 15 months. She was then ready to carry 517 First Class passengers. Her first voyage after the refit left the UK on 16 December 1948 for Australia and New Zealand.

Peter Worrall kindly sent me the brochure below which was signed March 1947 and presumably printed while the ship was still being refitted. His father served on Dominion Monarch as a Medic during the war, caring for the thousands of troops and POWs being transported in the vessel. His interest in the ship obviously continued after the war.

Revised Brochure From 1957

I am also grateful to Marian Moll-Sanders of the Netherlands who sent me copy of a Dominion Monarch brochure from circa 1957. The brochures are very similar, and even use some of the same photographs. Some of the furniture and internal decorations of the ship are different and the number of passengers has been slightly reduced to 508. I have reproduced both brochures in full for comparison.

Dominion Monarch even had a children's dining room; presumably for very well-behaved children or those with nannies.

Final Days

Shaw Savill ordered Northern Star as the replacement for the ageing Dominion Monarch and the latter left Wellington for her last trip with them on 30 December 1961. She discharged her passengers at Southampton around 22 April 1962 and her cargo at London. On 10 July 1962 Northern Star took over her route, Dominion Monarch having been sold to Mitsui for breaking for £400,000 in February 1962.

Before she 'went to meet her breaker', Dominion Monarch, renamed Dominion Monarch Maru, had one last set of passengers - she was leased as a floating hotel and entertainment centre for the Century 21 Exposition in Seattle arriving there on 29 May 1962.

The exhibition closed on 21 October and she was taken to Osaka on 25 November 1962 to be scrapped.

Ephemera

The Crew's Perspective

At least some members of the crew had a different view of the vessel. She was referred to as the 'DM', the 'Dominion Maniac' and 'The Bucket of Blood'. In contrast to the luxury enjoyed by passengers, the crew accommodation has been described as unbearable in the tropics. As a result it is said that many crew members were those that could not get jobs elsewhere due to their poor records. The 'Bucket of Blood' epithet apparently came from the fighting amongst members of the crew and the regular need for medical intervention.

Further details about the later voyages of Dominion Monarch can be found on the New Zealand Maritime Record website - [87].

Appearance on Stamps

Dominion Monarch has appeared on at least two postage stamps - one from New Zealand and one from Australia.

'Call the Midwife'

Dominion Monarch featured as a backdrop on a highly popular UK TV series 'Call the Midwife'. The original was a photograph of the vessel seen from Saville Road whilst berthed at the King George V dock at Silvertown in London where the series was set.

Disposal

Dominion Monarch was taken to Misui & Co for breaking on 25 November 1962.