SS Twickenham Ferry Twickenham Ferry was a train ferry built in 1934 for the Southern Railway . She served during the Second World War as a minesweeper and returned to merchant service post - war , serving until 1974 when she was scrapped . Description . " Twickenham Ferry " was one of three ships built to the same design . Her sister ships were and . She was long , with a beam of . She had a depth of and a draught of . She was 2 , 839 GRT , 1 , 044 NRT , and 1 , 200 DWT . She was powered by four Parson ' s turbines , which were built by Parson ' s . Steam was supplied by boilers made by Yarrows Ltd , Scotstoun . The four turbines drove twin screw propellors through single reduction gearing . She had a service speed of . They had a total power output of 948 nhp ( 3 , 300 kW ) . " Twickenham Ferry " could carry 12 sleeping car s or 40 goods wagons , with space for 25 cars . Accommodation was provided for 500 passengers . History . " Twickenham Ferry " was built by Swan , Hunter and Wigham Richardson Ltd as yard number 1446 . Launched on 15 March 1934 , completion was in July . Jointly owned by the Southern Railway & Angleterre - Lorraine - Alsace , she was built for service on the Dover - Dunkerque route , but initially operated out of Southampton as the new facilities at Dover were not ready . Her port of registry was London and the code letters GWTQ were allocated . On 22 September 1936 , she was reflagged to France . Her port of registry was changed to Dunkerque and her code letters were changed to FOSA . " Twickenham Ferry " commenced service between Dover and Dunkerque on 6 October 1936 . She served on this route until 25 August 1939 . The next day , " Twickenham Ferry " was requisitioned by the Admiralty as HMS " Twickenham " . Her port of registry was changed to London and the code letters BCYF were allocated . She was re - allocated the Official Number 163500 . She was converted to a minesweeper , and initially based at Southampton . She was put into service between Larne and Stranraer from July to December 1940 , and again from March 1941 to January 1944 . By November 1944 , " Twickenham Ferry " was employed in taking locomotives to Calais being able to carry 16 locomotives and 16 wagons . She could also carry an ambulance train of 14 carriages and four wagons . , with the associated personnel . On 24 January 1945 , HMS " Twickenham " was involved in a collision with the tug " Empire Rupert " off Dover ( ) . " Empire Rupert " sank . On 31 October 1945 , HMS " Twickenham " was returned to Angleterre - Lorraine - Alsace and regained her former name of " Twickenham Ferry " . She was the first Southern Railway ship to enter Cherbourg post - war . In 1947 , " Twickenham Ferry " was converted from coal to oil burning . On the formation of British Railways in 1948 , " Twickenham Ferry " was registered to the British Transport Commission . With the introduction of IMO Number s , " Twickenham Ferry " was allocated the number 5371478 . With the introduction of TOPS in 1968 , Sealink ships were classed as locomotives for TOPS purposes , being allocated Class 99 . " Twickenham Ferry " was allocated 99 006 . She was withdrawn from service in 1974 as her boilers were life - expired . Her final day of service was 5 May 1974 . On 24 May , she was sold for scrap , arriving on 26 May at San Esteban de Pravia , Spain , where she was scrapped by Stellnortem .