page_title: MV Georgic (1931)
section_title: Later career
hierarchical_section_title: MV Georgic (1931) / Later career
caption_attribution_description: English: MV Georgic migrant transport ship, Australia, February 1949, from photographic negative, State Library of New South Wales ON 388/Box 005/Item 002 English: MV Georgic migrant transport ship, Australia, February 1949, from photographic negative, State Library of New South Wales ON 388/Box 005/Item 002
context_page_description: Built at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, the MV Georgic was the last ship built for the White Star Line before its merger with the Cunard Line. She was the running mate of Britannic. Like Britannic, Georgic was a motorship, and not a steamer, fitted with a diesel powerplant. At the time of her launch in 1931, she was the largest British motorship.
  After a successful career as a Liner in the 1930s, Georgic was pressed into service as a troopship in 1940. She was severely damaged and sunk in 1941 by a German bombing raid whilst docked at Port Tewfik in Egypt. After being refloated and extensively rebuilt, she returned to service as a troopship in 1944, and continued in service for both for military and civilian uses until 1956, when she was withdrawn from service and scrapped.
context_section_description: On 17 December 1944 Georgic resumed service as a troop transport between Italy, the Middle East and India. After the war ended in 1945, she spent the next three years repatriating troops, civilians and prisoners of war. By 1948, with trooping requirements falling off, and the need for more ships to cater for the demand for emigrants to Australia and New Zealand, the Ministry of Transport (formerly the MoWT) decided to restore Georgic for civilian service, with the requirement that she could be converted again for trooping duties if the need arose.
  In September 1948 Georgic was sent to the Palmers yard on the Tyne to be refitted as an emigrant ship with a single-class accommodation of 1,962. Georgic had her White Star colours restored in the refit, however she was by now very much a utilitarian vessel, as her interiors were not restored to their pre-war luxury standards. Between January 1949 and October 1953 Georgic was operated on the UK-Australia emigrant service, operated by Cunard, but chartered by the Australian government.
  During the summer high seasons from 1950 to 1954, Cunard also chartered Georgic from the MoT for some journeys from Liverpool or Southampton to New York in concert with her sister Britannic to meet additional demand. Georgic was chartered for six round transatlantic voyages during 1950, and seven round voyages per season during 1951-54.
  From November 1953 to April 1955, Georgic was again used for trooping duties as she was commissioned to carry Commonwealth troops returning from the Korean War, although in between this she made her last seven round voyages from Southampton to New York chartered by Cunard during the 1954 high season. In January 1955 the MoT announced that Georgic would be withdrawn from service and put up for sale by August of that year: By this stage Georgic's war-scarred machinery was proving troublesome. However she was withdrawn from sale when she was chartered by the Australian government for one more season on the emigrant run. She made her last voyage to Australia in August that year. Georgic's final voyage was from Hong Kong to Liverpool in November 1955, carrying 800 troops, when she arrived on 19 November, she was withdrawn from service. The Georgic was finally laid up at Kames Bay, Isle of Bute, pending disposal, and then sold for scrap in January 1956. The following month Georgic arrived at Faslane for breaking up.
caption: MV Georgic migrant transport ship, Australia, February 1949
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