RMS Empress of Asia RMS " Empress of Asia " was an ocean liner built in 1912 - 1913 by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering at Govan on the Clyde in Scotland for Canadian Pacific Steamships . As well as being a passenger liner in peacetime , " Empress of Asia " served as an armed merchant cruiser and a troopship in wartime . She was sunk during World War II by Japan ese aircraft while transiting from Bombay to Singapore . Service history . The " Empress of Asia " was built by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering at Govan near Glasgow in Scotland She was launched in 1912 where she was named by Mrs Bosworth the wife of the Vice - President of the Canadian Pacific Railway , she completed her maiden voyage in 1913 . In May 1914 , Captain Samuel Robinson pushed the RMS " Empress of Asia " and her crew in setting a new world ' s record for both a single day ' s steaming ( 473 nautical miles ) and for crossing the Pacific ( nine days , two hours , and fifteen minutes ) . World War I . During the First World War , the " Empress of Asia " was converted into an auxiliary cruiser at Hong Kong . She was armed with eight 4 . 7 inch gun s and Royal Navy officers took command . Among her peacetime crew only those in the Royal Naval Reserve were retained . She was deployed in Asia , in the Middle East and in the Atlantic . In late 1914 , the " Empress of Asia " was among the cruisers tasked with hunting the SMS " Emden " in the Indian Ocean east of Ceylon . The " Empress of Asia " transported wounded German prisoners from the sunken " Emden " to Columbo . On September 9 , 1918 , the " Empress of Asia " set sail from Hoboken , NJ bound for Liverpool carrying troops from the 86th Infantry Division ' s 331st Machine Gun Battalion , 311th Engineer Regiment and 311th Engineer Train . She arrived safely on September 21 , 1918 . In 1919 , the " Empress of Asia " returned to Vancouver carrying the 72nd Battalion , Seaforth Highlanders of the Canadian Expeditionary Forces ( CEF ) ; and the men disembarked from the ship at the CPR pier . Inter - war period . Amongst the celebrities who sailed in the " Empress of Asia " was Bertrand Russell . The writer traveled from Yokohama to Vancouver in the late summer of 1921 . Physicist Niels Bohr made the trans - Pacific crossing in April 1924 aboard the " Empress of Asia " . The " Empress of Asia " and the " Empress of Canada " evacuated civilians from Shanghai in 1937 during the Sino - Japanese War . World War II . The " Empress of Asia " was requisitioned by the British Admiralty in January 1941 , and sailed for Liverpool via the Panama Canal to the River Clyde for refitting as a troopship . For armament she received a 6 inch gun , a 3 inch gun HA , 6 20 mm Oerlikon s , 8 Hotchkiss , Bofors guns , 4 PAC rocket s and depth charge s . Her first task was to take soldiers of the Green Howards to Suez via the Cape of Good Hope to participate in the North Africa Campaign . From there she took Italian prisoners of war to Durban . In September 1941 , the " Empress of Asia " sailed with the first convoy from North America to England which was escorted by ships of the United States Navy . The final voyage of the " Empress of Asia " began in November 1941 , when she sailed from Liverpool carrying troops and supplies bound for Africa , Bombay and Singapore . " Empress of Asia " was one of five CPR ships that were taking men and materiel to reinforce Singapore in the face of the Japanese advance . The convoy , designated BM . 12 , had come under air attack in Banka Strait on 4 February 1942 suffering only minor damage . On 5 February , as the convoy entered the approaches to Singapore , serious attacks were pressed home south of Sultan Shoal Lighthouse . Nine Japanese dive bombers focused their attack on the " Empress of Asia " . The second element of the convoy composed of " Empress of Asia " , and " City of Canterbury " escorted by and came into sight of vessels in the harbor with " Empress of Asia " on fire amidships approaching Sultan Shoal . The ship anchored off the shoal with personnel gathered on bow and stern . Escort vessels , , stood by while Commander Wilfred Harrington manoeuvered the bow of " Yarra " alongside the liner ' s stern and took off 1804 survivors . , which had been in the harbor , rescued 78 with " Wollongong " taking the last two persons , the Master and Chief Engineer , off the burning ship . There were 16 deaths . She sank near the island of Sultan Shoal in the Western Anchorage of Singapore about south of the western tip of Singapore Island . Despite salvage efforts organized by Robert Rankin , all the military equipment and other supplies were lost . Singapore would fall to the Japanese only ten days later ( 15 February 1942 ) , which makes it hard to speculate about what difference it could have made if the " Empress of Asia " had not been sunk . The last convoy of evacuees leaving Singapore included the SS " Sing Kheng Seng " of the Straits Shipping Company , carrying 45 crewmen from the " Empress of Asia " along with an unknown number of others . Leonard H . Johnston was chief mate of the " Empress of Asia " when she went down . He took charge of 40 other young survivors and led his crew - mates safely to Fremantle , Australia . The journey involved sailing on three inter - island steamers to Sumatra , hiking over 100 miles across the island to catch a ferry to Java , and then a voyage from Batavia to Australia aboard a flat - bottomed river boat with Johnston serving as navigator . He was honored with the OBE for his exploits .