MS Brahe

Kristina Brahe in her civilian state in Savonlinna, 2008.
History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Kilchrenan
Builder: Pullman-Standard Car Company, Chicago, Illinois
Laid down: 24 December 1942
Launched: 13 June 1943
Commissioned: 31 August 1943
Struck: 1947
Fate:
  • Returned to U.S. Navy custody, December 1946
  • Sold to Norway, 1947
Status: in active service, as of 2010
General characteristics as PCE[1]
Type: Patrol boat
Displacement: 640 long tons (650 t)
Length: 180 ft 6 in (55.02 m)
Beam: 33 ft (10 m)
Draft: 9 ft 8 in (2.95 m)
Propulsion:
Speed: 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement: 100
Armament:
General characteristics as cruise ship[2]
Tonnage: 1,105 gross register tons (GRT)
Length: 56.8 m (186 ft 4 in)
Beam: 10.08 m (33 ft 1 in)
Draft: 3.3 m (10 ft 10 in)
Decks: 4
Propulsion: 2 × Caterpillar, 1,275 kW (1,710 hp)
Speed:
  • 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) cruising
  • 14 kn (26 km/h; 16 mph) maximum
Capacity: 45 passenger cabins
Crew: 18

USS PCE-830 was a U.S.-built Patrol Craft Escort (PCE) vessel launched on 13 June 1943 by the Pullman-Standard Car Company of Chicago, Illinois. She was transferred to the Royal Navy and given the name HMS Kilchrenan in August 1943. She now operates as the cruise ship MS Brahe.

Service history

World War II, 1943–1946

A sister-ship, PCE-872

Kilchrenan spent her war years homeported in Gibraltar performing convoy and patrol duties along the western African coast. Returned to U.S. Navy custody in December 1946, she was struck from the Naval Vessel Register in 1947.[1]

In commercial service, 1947–present

She was purchased by Norwegian Hardanger Sunnhordlandske Dampskipsselskap (HSD) in 1947, rebuilt as a passenger ship and given the name M/S Sunnhordland. She ran for several years in western Norway.

The ship was sold to Finland in 1974 as M/S Kristina Brahe and until 2010 operated as a passenger ship by Kristina Cruises of Kotka, Finland, making short cruises in the Baltic Sea and Lake Saimaa.[3] The Kristina Brahe was sold to Saimaan Matkaverkko Ltd in August 2010. Her name was shortened to simply Brahe.[4]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Patrol Craft Escort Chaser : HMS Kilchernan (BEC 4) ex-PCE-830". www.navsource.org. Retrieved 2009-11-13.
  2. ↑ "Kristina Cruises – M/S Kristina Brahe / Specifications". www.kristinacruises.com. Retrieved 2009-11-13.
  3. ↑ "Kristina Cruises – M/S Kristina Brahe / Introduction and history". www.kristinacruises.com. Retrieved 2009-11-13.
  4. ↑ Saimaan Page

Media related to Kristina Brahe (ship, 1943) at Wikimedia Commons


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