TS Pretoria TS " Pretoria " was a ship that had a long and varied career as first a German cargo liner , then a U - boat depot ship , hospital ship , British troop ship , Muslim pilgrim ship and finally an Indonesian naval accommodation ship . Description . The ship was long , with a beam of . She had a depth of , with a draught of . As built , she was assessed at 17 , 362 GRT . Following her 1958 refit , she was assessed as 17 , 891 GRT . As built , the ship was powered by six steam turbines , rated at a total of 14 , 000 shp . These were fed by a number of small , high - pressure Benson boiler s . The turbines drove twin screw propellers and could propel the ship at . In 1949 , the Benson boilers were replaced by convention boilers , made by Foster Wheeler , operating at . In 1973 , she was re - engined , being fitted with a diesel engine . As built , the ship had accommodation for 152 first class and 338 second class passengers . In 1949 , she was converted to a troopship , with accommodation for 1 , 491 troops . In 1959 , she was refitted to carry 106 first class and 2 , 000 pilgrim class passengers . History . Pre - war . " Pretoria " was built as yard number 536 by Blohm & Voss , Hamburg , Germany . She was launched on 16 July 1936 . She was one of a pair of sister ships completed that year for Deutsche Ost - Afrika Linie : the other being TS " Windhuk " . The Code Letters DJSG were allocated . " Pretoria " began her maiden voyage from Hamburg on 19 December 1936 . Her destination was Lourenço Marques , Mozambique via Southampton , United Kingdom ; Lisbon , Portugal ; Casablanca , Morocco ; Cape Town , Johannesburg and Pretoria , South Africa . On 24 December , having departed from Southampton with 470 passengers and 300 crew on board , she ran aground on the East Lepe Bank in the Solent . Although five tugs attempted to free her , she remained aground . After 900 tons of water had been discharged overboard and 400 tons of fuel oil had been transferred to a tanker , she was freed with the aid of seven tugs on 26 December , losing her port anchor in the process . " Pretoria " returned to Southampton for inspection , resuming her voyage the next day . As a result of the delays incurred , the calls at Lisbon and Casablanca were omitted . Deutsche Ost - Afrika Linie operated her mainly between Hamburg , South - West Africa and South Africa . On 20 May 1937 , " Pretoria " was involved in a collision with the British tanker during foggy weather in the North Sea ( ) . " Hekla " was badly damaged amidships and jettisoned some of her cargo . " Pretoria " stood by whilst tugs were sent from Bremen , Germany to " Heklas " aid . World War II . In November 1939 , " Pretoria " was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine and used as a U - boat depot ship . Initially based at Kiel , Schleswig - Holstein , she served the 1st U - boat Flotilla , based at Neustadt , Hamburg , from January 1940 . In December she was transferred to 21st U - boat Flotilla , based at Pillau , Prussia . In 1945 , she was converted to a hospital ship . " Pretoria " assisted in the evacuation of German civilians from the Eastern Territories towards the end of the war . In May 1945 she was in Copenhagen when Denmark was liberated , and UK forces captured her as a prize of war . Post - war civil service . " Pretoria " was passed to the Ministry of War Transport ( MoWT ) converted to a troop ship at Newcastle upon Tyne . She was renamed " Empire Doon " . The MoWT placed her under the management of the Orient Steam Navigation Company . " Empire Doon " suffered boiler trouble in Port Said , Egypt , was towed back to Falmouth , Cornwall by the Admiralty tug " Buster " . She was then laid up off Southend on Sea . Essex , " Empire Doon " was moved to Southampton , Hampshire in May 1947 . In 1949 , she was reboilered by J . I . Thorneycroft & Co of Southampton , and converted to a troopship , at a cost of £2 , 000 , 000 . Trials were undertaken in November 1949 , but had to be curtailed due to engine problems . Her maiden voyage as a troopship , scheduled for 10 December , was postponed . Sea trials resumed on 29 December . The refit of " Empire Doon " was completed in January 1950 and she was renamed " Empire Orwell " to conform with the Ministry of Transport policy of ship names being prefixed " Empire " and Orient Line policy of using names beginning with " O " . She had capacity for 1 , 491 troops in three classes . " Empire Orwell " departed on her maiden voyage as a troopship on 17 January 1950 bound for Tobruk , Libya and Port Said , Egypt . She served as a troopship in the 1956 Suez Crisis : landing troops in Cyprus and evacuating troops from the Suez Canal Zone . In April 1958 , " Empire Orwell " was damaged during storms in the Atlantic Ocean . She was towed into Lisbon , Portugal by a German tug . There were complaints about conditions on board " Empire Orwell " when she was returning troops from the Far East to the United Kingdom in 1958 . The issue was raised in Parliament by Horace King , MP . In reply , Alfred Barnes , the Minister of Transport , stated that complaints about messing arringements encountered in the early part of the voyage were swiftly resolved . Complaints that soldiers below the rank of sergeant were generally unable to visit their families were stated to be a matter of military discipline . Later that year , she was chartered to the Pan - Islamic Steam Ship Co of Karachi , Pakistan who used her to carry Muslim pilgrims . Alfred Holt & Co bought her in November of that year and renamed her " Gunung Djati " after the 16th century Javanese " Wali Sanga " Sunan Gunungjati . She was placed her under the management of Ocean Steam Ship Co , Liverpool , Lancashire . " Gunung Djati " was refitted by Barclay Curle & Co Ltd in Glasgow , Scotland . The refit increased her displacement to 17 , 851 GRT . She was fitted with a mosque and was fitted with indicator which would point towards Mecca . On 7 March 1959 , she sailed for Djakarta , Indonesia . She could carry 106 first class passengers and 2 , 000 pilgrim class passengers . In 1962 the Indonesian government bought " Gunung Djati " , transferred her to the Indonesian flag and continued to operate her as a pilgrim ship . In 1964 P . T . Maskapai Pelajaran " Sang Saka " of Djakarta bought her and continued to operate her in the same service . She was sold to Perusahaan Pelajaran Arafat , Djakarta . In 1973 her boilers and steam turbines were replaced with diesel engines and in 1975 she was refitted in Hong Kong . Indonesian naval service . In 1979 , the Indonesian Government bought " Gunung Djati " back , renamed her KRI " Tanjung " , with the pennant number 971 . She was used by the Indonesian Navy as a troopship until 1981 , and then as an accommodation ship . She had ceased to serve in this role by 1984 . " Tanjung " was sold in 1987 to Taiwan for scrapping . Replacement naval ship . In 2003 Indonesia commissioned an amphibious transport dock ship from Daesun Shipbuilding and Engineering of Pusan in Korea , which entered service as the . She has since been converted to a hospital ship and renamed .