page_title: RMS Andes (1939)
section_title: Eastward around the World
hierarchical_section_title: RMS Andes (1939) / Troop ship 1939–47 / Eastward around the World
caption_attribution_description: English: The Royal Navy during the Second World War HMS CORFU, armed merchant cruiser, showing her camouflage scheme at Greenock after a refit. This ship was formerly a P &amp; O Passenger Liner
context_page_description: RMS Andes was a 26,689 GRT steam turbine Royal Mail Ship, ocean liner, cruise ship, and the flagship of the Royal Mail Lines fleet. She was the second Royal Mail ship to be named after the South American Andes mountain range. The first RMS Andes was an A-class liner launched in 1913
  . In 1929 that RMS Andes was converted into a cruise ship and renamed Atlantis.
  The second Andes was built in Belfast in 1937–39 and completed at the outbreak of the Second World War. The Admiralty almost immediately requisitioned her as a troop ship and had her converted to carry about 4,000 troops. In troop service she broke three speed records for long-distance voyages.
  Andes was converted back into a civilian liner in 1947. She entered civilian service in 1948 on RMSP's premier liner route between Southampton, Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. For seven years she worked the route full-time, but from 1955 the frequency of her liner voyages decreased and she spent an increasing proportion of her time cruising. In 1959–60 she was converted at Flushing, Netherlands into a full-time cruise ship. She was scrapped at Ghent in 1971.
context_section_description: Between 7 December 1941 and 11 May 1942 Andes made her first circumnavigation of the World. She began by sailing from Liverpool to Oversay, Renfrewshire, where she joined 12 other troop ships to form Convoy WS 14 to the Indian Ocean. They included Duchess of Atholl, Empress of Australia, Highland Monarch, Orcades, Oronsay, Reina del Pacifico, Strathallan and Warwick Castle, plus Elder Dempster Lines' Abosso, Union-Castle's Athlone Castle, RML's Highland Princess and Furness, Withy's RMS Nova Scotia. The escorts were led by the battleship HMS Ramillies and included 17 Royal Navy destroyers, the armed merchant cruisers Cilicia and Derbyshire, the anti-aircraft ship Ulster Queen and Royal Australian Navy destroyer HMAS Nestor.
  WS 14 left the Clyde on 9 December, reached Freetown on the 21st, stayed until Christmas Day and then continued to South African waters off Durban, where it divided into sections. Andes, Nova Scotia, the British-India SN Co troopship Dilwara and four cargo ships formed Convoy WS 14B. Escorted by the armed merchant cruisers HMS Corfu and Esperance Bay they headed out into the Indian Ocean on 19 January 1942, reaching Bombay on 28 January.
  On 4 February Andes, with Strathallan and the unladen Durban Castle left Bombay as Convoy BA 14. The convoy, which had no naval escort, reached Aden three days later. Andes left Aden independently on 9 February and reached Suez three days later.
  On 18 February Andes left Suez independently and on 27 February she reached Colombo. On 2 March Andes, Orcades and Strathallan, all carrying troops, left Colombo as the unescorted Convoy SU 3. The convoy dispersed at sea and Andes, with 3,200 troops, continued independently to Australia. She called at Fremantle on 10–12 March, Adelaide on 15–16 March and reached Melbourne on 17 March.
  On 22 March Andes left Melbourne independently to return to Britain. She reached Balboa, Panama on 9 April, made her first passage through the Panama Canal and two days later left Cristóbal on Panama's Caribbean coast. She reached Boston, MA on 19 April, where she was dry docked for repairs. She left on 28 April and reached Halifax the next day, where she became one of five troopships in Convoy NA 8. The others were Batory and Orcades, P&O's Cathay and Anchor-Donaldson Line's Letitia. NA 8 left Halifax on 3 May, escorted by the escort carrier HMS Avenger and eight US Navy destroyers. The convoy crossed the North Atlantic without loss and reached the Clyde on 11 or 12 May.
  Andes had completed her first round-the-World voyage. It had taken almost five months, covered 38,000 miles and she had carried 4,500 men. From the Clyde she continued to Liverpool where she stayed 18 days for repairs.
caption: In 1942 the armed merchant cruiser HMS Corfu escorted Convoy WS 14B, in which Andes sailed from Durban to Bombay
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