MS Alcantara (1927)

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Career
Ordered:
Laid down:
Launched: 1927
Maiden voyage:
Fate: scrapped 1958
General Characteristics
Tonnage: 22,181 gross register tons
Length: 656 ft
Beam: 78 ft
Draught:
Propulsion: Burmeister & Wain diesels, twin screw
Speed: 16 knots
Crew:
Passengers: 1,430 (432 1st, 223 2nd, 775 3rd)

MS Alcantara was an ocean liner of the Royal Mail Lines, a successor to the Alcantara that had been sunk in World War I.

Alcantara was built by Harland & Wolff in Belfast, and launched in 1927. She ran the route from Southampton to the east coast of South America. In 1934 the ship was rebuilt with more powerful engines.

She was converted to an Armed Merchant Cruiser in 1939, and refitted with a single funnel.

South American service resumed in 1948, and lasted until 1958, when she was sold to Japanese owners, renamed Kaisho Maru, but broken up the same year.