{{Short description|Passenger liner, launched in 1929}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=September 2017}} {{Infobox ship |section1={{Infobox ship/image | image = MS_Rangitane_1929-1940.jpg | image_caption = }}
|section2={{Infobox ship/career | hide_header = |country = [[United Kingdom]] |flag = {{shipboxflag|UK|civil}} | name = ''Rangitane'' | owner = [[New Zealand Shipping Company]] | operator = | registry = Plymouth | route = Britain – New Zealand | ordered = | builder = [[John Brown & Company]], Glasgow | original_cost = | yard_number = 522 | way_number = | laid_down = | launched = 27 May 1929 | completed = 12 November 1929 | christened = | acquired = | maiden_voyage = | in_service = | out_of_service = | identification = | fate = Sunk 27 November 1940 by German raiders | notes = }}
|section3={{Infobox ship/characteristics | hide_header = | header_caption = | class = | tonnage = {{GRT|16712}}, {{NRT|10289}} | length = {{cvt|531.0|ft}} | beam = {{cvt|70.2|ft}} | height = | draught = | depth = {{cvt|38.1|ft}} | decks = | deck_clearance = | power = {{cvt|9300|hp}}, 2,186 [[Horsepower#Nominal horsepower|NHP]] | propulsion = Brown-Sulzer engines driving twin screws | speed = | capacity =*590 passengers in 1st, 2nd and 3rd classes (100, 80 & 410, respectively) *"substantial" cargo | crew = 200 | notes = | armament = 4.7 inch gun, 76.2mm machine gun, light AA guns{{clarify|date=August 2022}} }} }}
'''MS ''Rangitane''''' was a [[passenger liner]] owned by the [[New Zealand Shipping Company]]. She was one of three [[sister ship]]s (the other sisters were {{RMS|Rangitata||2}} and {{RMS|Rangitiki||2}}) delivered to the company in 1929 for the [[All-Red Route]] between Britain and New Zealand. ''Rangitane'' was built by [[John Brown & Company]] and launched on 27 May 1929.<ref name=bell/><ref name="Rangitane">{{cite web|title = MV Rangitane (+1940)|url= http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?138639|publisher=Wrecksite|accessdate= 5 December 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.clydeships.co.uk/view.php?&ref=3384 |title=Rangitane |work=Scottish Built Ships |publisher=Caledonian Maritime Research Trust |access-date=17 August 2022}}</ref>
The three ships each measured about 16,700 [[gross register ton]]s, {{convert|530|ft}} registered length and {{convert|70|ft}} beam. They could carry nearly 600 passengers in 1st, 2nd and 3rd classes, 200 crew members, and substantial cargo. They had Brown-[[Sulzer (manufacturer)|Sulzer]] [[diesel engine]]s with a total output of {{cvt|9,300|hp|lk=on}}, turning twin propellers. In wartime, they carried only [[Defensively equipped merchant ship|defensive armament]]. On her final voyage ''Rangitane'' was armed with a 4.7-inch gun and 40 rounds of ammunition.<ref name=bell/>
==Sinking== On her final voyage, which had been delayed by labour disputes, she carried 14,000 tons of cargo, including foodstuffs and silver bullion, valued at over £2 million at 1940 prices. She carried 111 passengers, including [[CORB]] nurses, Polish sailors, servicemen and Radar technicians. The captain was Lionel Upton, a naval reservist who had been awarded the [[Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)|Distinguished Service Cross]] for his "services in action with enemy submarines" in his command of auxiliary boats based at [[Scapa Flow]] in World War I.<ref name=bell>{{cite web | last = Bell | first = Trevor | title = The Rangitane Riddle | work = RMS Rangitane | date = 2012 | url = http://www.rangitane.co.uk | accessdate = 12 January 2013 }}</ref>
''Rangitane'' left [[Ports of Auckland|Auckland harbour]] in the early afternoon of Sunday 24 November 1940, en route to [[United Kingdom|Britain]] via the [[Panama Canal]]. She was intercepted early on the morning of 27 November 300 miles east of [[New Zealand]] by the German surface raiders {{ship|German auxiliary cruiser|Komet||2}} and {{ship|German auxiliary cruiser|Orion||2}} and their support ship {{ship||Kulmerland|ship|2}}. Another ship, SS ''Holmwood'', had been stopped and sunk by the German raiders on 24 November, but warning of the danger had not been passed on to ''Rangitane''.<ref name=bell/> This was later held to have been a factor in her sinking.<ref name=nzetc/>
The Germans signalled ''Rangitane'' to stop and not to transmit anything. Following standard [[British Admiralty|Admiralty]] instructions, however, Captain Upton ordered "QQQ" ('suspicious vessel') to be broadcast, which prompted signals jamming and shelling by the Germans. The main transmitter was quickly disabled and the emergency set was used to send "RRR" ('raider attack'), which was received and relayed. There followed a brief period of confusion. One German raider, suffering steering problems, sailed directly at ''Rangitane'', which in turn, with steering damaged by the shelling, also steered directly at a German ship before circling. The helmsman reported loss of steering.<ref name=bell/>
The interception had been made in the dark and the German ships were unsure of what they had found, believing that it was probably a [[cruiser]]-sized warship. Their attack was made on the basis it was the tactic most likely to allow their own escape.<ref name=nzetc>{{cite web | title = Holmwood and Rangitane Sunk | work = [[New Zealand Electronic Text Centre]] | publisher = [[Victoria University of Wellington]] | date = 2008 | url = https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2-1Epi-c4-WH2-1Epi-j.html | accessdate = 7 March 2010 }}</ref>
Once he knew that the distress signals had been received in New Zealand, Upton ordered the ship's surrender. The shelling had caused widespread fires and some casualties, and, with her steering damaged, ''Rangitane''{{'}}s escape would be unlikely. Once hove to, sensitive documents such as code books were destroyed, and the crew instructed to destroy key engine components, to prevent ''Rangitane'' being taken as a [[Prize (law)|prize]]. Despite the surrender, shelling continued and the furious Upton ordered full speed and return fire from the ship's guns, but this was prevented by destruction of telephones. The German shelling ceased and Upton gave the order to abandon ship.<ref name=bell/> [[File:Emirau Prisonners.jpg|thumb|right|Released prisoners on Emirau]] Sixteen people, eight passengers and eight crew, died as a result of the action, including those who died later of their injuries. [[Doris Anne Beeston]] who was a notable kindergarten teacher was killed.<ref>{{Citation |last=Jones |first=Helen |title=Doris Anne Beeston (1897–1940) |url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/beeston-doris-anne-9470 |work=Australian Dictionary of Biography |access-date=2023-11-12 |place=Canberra |publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University |language=en}}</ref> Elizabeth Plumb, a 59-year-old stewardess, ship's cook William Francis and deck mechanic John Walker were awarded [[British Empire Medal]]s for their selflessness in rescuing and caring for survivors. Prize crews took control of ''Rangitane'' at dawn and supervised an orderly and rapid evacuation. The survivors, 296 passengers and crew, were taken across to the German ships by lifeboats or German boats and sent below.<ref name=bell/>
''Rangitane''{{'}}s broadcast warnings required that the Germans clear the area quickly, before allied aircraft arrived. Although she was clearly afire and sinking, ''Komet'' fired a single torpedo and ''Rangitane'' listed quickly to port and sank at 6:30 am. The [[Short Empire]] class [[flying boat]] ''Aotearoa'', civil registration ''ZK-AMA'', was the first Allied aircraft on the scene at about 2:30 pm, but found only an oil slick and debris. A subsequent air search missed the raiders, although they themselves saw one of the search aircraft.<ref name=bell/>
German treatment of their prisoners was humane and as good as could be expected in the crowded conditions, and those who died were given proper funerals. The number of prisoners aboard the German ships caused concern to the German commanders and they decided to release most of them. After an intended release at [[Nauru]] had been thwarted by poor weather, and further actions had led to the capture of more prisoners, the survivors were released on the tiny island of [[Emirau]], off [[New Guinea]]. The remainder, mostly of military age, were transported back to German-occupied [[Bordeaux]] and eventually to [[prisoner-of-war]] camps in Germany.<ref name=bell/>
''Rangitane'' was one of the largest passenger liners to be sunk in [[World War II]].
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{commons category-inline|Rangitane (ship, 1929)}}
{{coord missing|Pacific Ocean}} {{November 1940 shipwrecks}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rangitane}} [[Category:Military history of New Zealand during World War II]] [[Category:Ships of the New Zealand Shipping Company]] [[Category:Passenger ships of the United Kingdom]] [[Category:World War II merchant ships of the United Kingdom]] [[Category:World War II shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean]] [[Category:Ships built on the River Clyde]] [[Category:1929 ships]] [[Category:Maritime incidents in November 1940]]