page_title: QSMV Dominion Monarch
section_title: Indian Ocean, Egypt and Mediterranean
hierarchical_section_title: QSMV Dominion Monarch / Second World War service / Indian Ocean, Egypt and Mediterranean
caption_attribution_description: HMS Resolution.
context_page_description: QSMV Dominion Monarch was a UK passenger and 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.
context_section_description: The ship spent New Year 1943 in Liverpool, and after three weeks in port sailed to the Firth of Clyde to start another voyage to the Indian Ocean. Convoy WS 26 to Freetown included Empress of Canada, Duchess of Richmond, Stratheden and California, plus P&O's 20,847 GRT troop ship RMS Mooltan, Union-Castle Line's 19,118 GRT troop ship RMS Arundel Castle and several others, four of them Dutch. It left the Clyde on 24 January and reached Freetown on 6 February, whence Dominion Monarch continued via Durban to the Indian Ocean. At sea on 11 March HMS Hawkins met a group of ships from Convoy WS 26 – Dominion Monarch, Stratheden, Mooltan, California, Royal Rotterdam Lloyd's Dempo and British-India Line's Chyebassa – to form Convoy WS 26B, reaching Bombay on 17 March.
  After 10 days in Bombay Dominion Monarch sailed unescorted to Durban, and then to Wellington where she arrived on 30 April. By now her accommodation seems to have been increased, for as well as loading 8,000 tons of cargo and 3,000 bags of mail she embarked 3,535 troops; more than twice the number for which she had been converted in 1940. After a fortnight in port she sailed for Fremantle, where she arrived on 23 May. Jim Smythe notes in his war diary that "it was a fine day, sea very calm" and that the "ship berthed at 1700hrs". There she and Nieuw Amsterdam formed Convoy US 19, which was just the two troop ships sailing together to Colombo. Dominion Monarch continued independently via Aden, and reached Suez on 11 June. Five days later she sailed via Colombo to Cape Town, where she arrived on 10 July and stayed in port for three and a half weeks.
  In Cape Town she joined Canadian-Australasian Line's 17,941 GRT Aorangi and the battleships HMS Revenge and HMS Resolution to form Convoy CF 13, which sailed on 4 August. It called at Pointe-Noire, French Congo on 11–13 August whence it continued as Convoy CF 13A, reaching Freetown on 24 August. There the four ships were joined by the Dutch troop ship Dempo and became Convoy CF 13B, which left Freetown the next day and reached Gibraltar on 31 August.
  By then the Allies had won the North African Campaign and invaded Sicily, and had resumed normal convoys between Egypt and Britain through the Mediterranean. The ship joined Convoy MKF 22, which was on its way from Port Said to the Firth of Clyde, and Dominion Monarch reached Liverpool on 9 September. There she landed 3,429 troops and stayed for 25 days for drydocking.
  The ship then joined Convoy KMF 25, which left Liverpool on 16 October, went through the Mediterranean and was bound for Alexandria. Dominion Monarch continued to Port Said, arriving on 31 October. Two days later she sailed in Convoy XIF 3 to Italy, and on 6 November reached Augusta, Sicily where she embarked 3,630 troops. She joined Convoy MKF 25A, which was en route from Port Said to the Firth of Clyde, arriving on 24 November. Dominion Monarch reached Liverpool the next day and spent the next nine days under repair.
caption: In August 1943 the battleship HMS Resolution and her sister ship Revenge escorted Convoy CF 13, which included Dominion Monarch
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