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QSMV ''Dominion Monarch'' was a British refrigerated cargo liner. Her name was a reference to the Dominion of New Zealand. The unusual prefix "QSMV" stood for quadruple-screw motor vessel. The ship was built in England in 1937–39, and when new she set a number of records for her size and power. She operated between Britain and New Zealand ''via'' Australia in civilian service 1938–40 and 1948–62 and was a troop ship 1940–47. She spent half of 1962 in the Port of Seattle as a floating hotel for the Century 21 Exposition and was then scrapped in Japan. ==Building== Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson of Wallsend, built ''Dominion Monarch'' as yard number 1547 for Shaw, Savill & Albion Line. Her keel was laid on 14 July 1937 in one of Swan Hunter's West Yards. She represented a transition in steel shipbuilding, as the decks and butts of her topside plating were assembled by electric welding (then relatively new in British shipyards) but the rest of her hull were assembled by the more traditional method of rivetting. She cost £1,500,000 to build. Eleanor, Lady Harrison, wife of Frederick Lewis, 1st Baron Essendon launched the ship on 27 July 1938. The London and North Eastern Railway laid on a special train that ran non-stop from London to Wallsend. Hauled by locomotive № 4492 ''Dominion of New Zealand'', it carried dignitaries including the High Commissioners of Australia, South Africa, Southern Rhodesia and New Zealand. Baron Essendon was Chairman of Furness Withy, which had been Shaw, Savill & Albion's parent company since 1933.〔 ''Dominion Monarch'' set a number of records. She was the largest ship built on the River Tyne since Swan Hunter had built the Cunard Liner in 1906. She was primarily a cargo liner, being built with accommodation for only 525 passengers. She had 160 single cabins and 182 multiple-berth cabins, including two ''de luxe'' suites. Her public rooms included a cinema, games deck, a by open air swimming pool, a separate dining room for children, and Jacobethan-style smoking room complete with fireplace and mullioned windows. Several of her public rooms were air conditioned. All her accommodation was first class, and she remains the largest cargo liner with all first-class passenger accommodation ever built.〔 ''Dominion Monarch'' was the world's most powerful motor liner.〔 She was powered by four William Doxford & Sons five-cylinder two-stroke single-acting diesel engines, each of bore by stroke.〔 Two engines were built by Swan Hunter and two under licence by Sunderland Forge.〔〔 The engines were the largest that Doxford's had constructed. Together they gave her a rating of 5,056 NHP〔 or 32,000 bhp, a top speed of and cruising speed of at an engine speed of 123 rpm.〔 The ship had four 100 lbf/in2 double-ended auxiliary boilers. Onboard electricity was supplied by five six-cylinder 900 bhp Allan diesel engines, each powering a 600 kW 220 volt generator.〔 Much of her cargo space was refrigerated. Her navigation equipment included wireless direction finding, and echo sounding device and a gyrocompass.〔 ''Dominion Monarch'' was completed on 12 January 1939. On 28 January, she had her sea trials off St Abb's Head, Berwickshire, Scotland. before sailing to London, where she was docked at the King George V Dock in the evening of 29 January. She was then handed over to her owners,〔 who registered her in Southampton.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「QSMV Dominion Monarch」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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