RFA Sobo

RFA Sobo

 

 

Previous name:
Subsequent name:             Jupiter

Official Number:                  110056                                                     

Class:                                    Torpedo Depot Ship

Pennant No:

Laid down:
Builder:                                 Barclay Curle
Launched:                            29 September 1898
Into Service:                         Purchased 1914
Out of service:                      February 1920
Fate:                                      Sold to W. R. Davies & Co

 

Items of historic interest involving this ship: -

 

Background Data:  Some official lists, marked as  “Lists of RFA’s” show vessels which spent some time as RFA’s during the First World War. These records are extremely sketchy and some of these vessels were “Yard Craft”, partially or wholly Dockyard manned, partly by RNR or Reserve Fleet personnel. Some of the Depot Ships staffed by skilled civilian Dockyard workers were for a time White Ensign. The Director of Stores was understood to be concerned with their manning and operationally they remained under Admiralty control

 

29 September 1898 Launched by  Barclay, Curle & Co Ltd, Whiteinch as Yard Nr 416 named  SOBO for African Steamship Co (Elder, Dempster & Co Ltd, Managers) Liverpool. Named after a Niger delta tribe of the Warri-Sapele area of Nigeria

January 1899 completed .70 x 1st Class and  40 x 2nd Class passengers

26 January 1899 sailed Tail of the Bank to Liverpool in ballast

20 January 1906 In collision on the River Mersey with the tug SANDOWN which capsized and sank  with the loss of all 8 of her crew. The tug was later salvaged

1908 transferred to Elder Line, Liverpool under same Managers and name unchanged

24 March 1909 sailed Quebec to the West Indies

1 December 1909 went to the assistance the German ship Grossherzogin Elizabeth which had gone ashore at Portsmouth, Dominica

17 August 1911 berthed at Liverpool from Halifax

14 December 1911 sailed Liverpool to West Africa

21 March 1912 sailed Accra for Liverpool

3 April 1912 sailed Sierra Leone for Liverpool

10 September 1912 sailed Libreville to Liverpool

16 April 1913 sailed Sierra Leone for Liverpool

24 June 1913 sailed Libreville for Liverpool

16 July 1913 sailed Teneriffe for Liverpool

23 July 1913 berthed at Liverpool

30 December 1913 sailed Duala for Liverpool

18 January 1914 sailed Teneriffe for Liverpool

25 January 1914 berthed at Liverpool from West Africa

1 May 1914 sailed Sierra Leone for Liverpool

11 May 1914 sailed Maderia for Liverpool

10 June 1914 sailed at Teneriffe for Liverpool

7 January 1915 Lieutenant  Joseph Leary RNR appointed in command

17 May 1915 Engineer Captain  Harold Gaisford Royal Navy (retired) appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

26 October 1915 purchased by the Admiralty, along with SOKOTO for conversion into a  Torpedo Depot  Ship for the Grand Fleet, name unchanged. Served initially at Cromarty

30 April 1917 Engineer Commander RNR appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

14 January 1918 Engineer Commander William R Davies RNR (ret) appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

23 February 1919 Engineer Sub-Lieutenant Peter A Roy RNR discharged dead having died of influenza at the Invergordon Naval Hospital. He is buried in Cathcart Cemetery, Renfrewshire - grave 2A 1090. Also remembered with pride on the Bute War Memorial

 

 

5 May 1919 Engineer Commander James Maxwell RNR appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

1 August 1919 Lieutenant Normal Willis RNR appointed in command

12 February 1920 Purchased by Soc Anon Les Affreteurs Reunis ( Jean Stern, Manager) Paris and renamed JUPITER

 27 June 1925 Sold to Italian ship breakers

 

Notes

1. The Admiralty paid a total of £55,000 for ARO, SOBO and SOKOTO