| Navy | The Royal Navy |
| Type | Armed Merchant Cruiser |
| Class | [No specific class] |
| Pennant | F 68 |
| Built by | W.G. Armstrong, Whitworth & Co. Ltd. (Newcastle-upon-Tyne, U.K.) |
| Ordered | |
| Laid down | |
| Launched | 20 Dec 1923 |
| Commissioned | 16 Oct 1939 |
| End service | 29 Oct 1942 |
| History | On 4 September 1939 the passenger ship Ascania of the Cunard White Star Ltd, Liverpool was requisitioned by the Admiralty and converted to an armed merchant cruiser. Conversion was completed on 16 October 1940. Displacement: 14013 BRT Career:
On 29 October 1942 returned and used as troopship by the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). 1943 converted to a landing ship LSI(L). In December 1947 returned to owner. |
Commands listed for HMS Ascania (F 68)
Please note that we're still working on this section.
| Commander | From | To | |
| 1 | Capt. (retired) Christopher Hildyard Ringrose-Wharton, RN | 2 Sep 1939 | 22 Oct 1941 |
| 2 | A/Capt. Alastair Gordon Davidson, RN | 22 Oct 1941 | Oct 1942 |
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Notable events involving Ascania include:
27 Feb 1940
The battleships HMS Malaya (Capt. I.B.B. Tower, DSC, RN) and the armed merchant cruiser HMS Ascania (Capt.(Retd.) C.H. Ringrose-Wharton, RN) departed Greenock for Halifax. They had embarked gold that was to be shipped to Canada for safekeeping.
They were escorted until 2000/28 by the destroyers HMS Faulknor (Capt. A.F. de Salis, RN), HMS Fame (Cdr. P.N. Walter, RN), HMS Forester (Lt.Cdr. E.B. Tancock, RN), HMS Fury (Cdr. G.F. Burghard, RN) and HMS Mohawk (Cdr. J.W.M. Eaton, RN). (1)
4 Mar 1940
The battleships HMS Malaya (Capt. I.B.B. Tower, DSC, RN) and the armed merchant cruiser HMS Ascania (Capt.(Retd.) C.H. Ringrose-Wharton, RN) arrived at Halifax. (2)
Sources
- ADM 53/112651
- ADM 199/2561
ADM numbers indicate documents at the British National Archives at Kew, London.