MS Monte Rosa.jpg

MS Monte Rosa built in 1931 for the Hamburg-South America Line...maiden voyage Hamburg-La Plata ports and cruising...

1940 used as naval accommodation ship at Stettin...

1942 served as troop transport Denmark-Norway...

1943-1944 served as workshop for repairs to battleship Tirpitz...

1944 troop transport again, after striking a mine, was refitted as hospital ship...

1945 struck a mine, damaged aft, towed to Gothenburg where she was temporarily repaired, then towed to Copenhagen with over 5,000 refugees and wounded, taken to Kiel, became British war prize, repaired and fitted out as troop transport...

1946 renamed Empire Windrush...1950 tonnage increased after refit...

1954 while sailing from Yokohama to England, she caught fire in the Mediterranean near Cape Caxine after an explosion in the engine room, passengers and crew abandoned ship, four dead, British destroyer Saintes tried to tow her to Gibraltar but sank the next day.

Source:  Admirers of the Great Ocean Liners