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SS Berrima |
| The liner SS Berrima was
requisitioned from the Peninsula and Orient Steam Navigation Company in
August 1914 and commissioned into the RAN as the auxiliary cruiser HMAS
Berrima.
Berrima left Sydney on 19 August 1914 carrying men of the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force for operations against the German New Guinea colonies. Troops were landed at Herbertshöhe and Rabaul on 11 and 12 September respectively, and on the New Guinea mainland on 24 September. Berrima subsequently returned to Sydney and, despite plans to employ her as an armed merchant cruiser, she was paid off in October for conversion to a troop transport. In her new role, SS Berrima sailed for the Middle East in December 1914 as part of the second troop convoy, carrying Australian and New Zealand troops and towing the submarine AE2. Berrima continued to work as a trooper until 18 February 1917, when she was torpedoed in the English Channel off Portland and beached. Decorations; 1 MiD |
| Class: | armed transport |
| Launched: | 1913 |
| Commissioned: | 17 August 1914 |
| Complement: | pending further research |
| Length: | 500 feet 1 inch [152.4m] |
| Beam: | 62 feet 3 inches [19m] |
| Draught: | 38 feet [11.5 m] |
| Displacement: | 11120 tons |
| Speed: | 14 knots |
| Armament: | 4 x 4-inch guns |
| Armour: | not applicable |
