Launched at Harland & Wolff, Belfast, in July 1935, Stirling Castle
made her maiden voyage from Southampton to Capetown on 7 February 1936.
Six months later, in August, she made Southampton to Table Bay in 13
days, 9 hours, breaking the record (14 days,18 hours, 57 minutes) set by
the Union Line's Scot in 1893.
When World War II began, the ship was converted into a troop transport
capable of accommodating as many as 6,160 men. By the war's end she
had carried 128,000 soldiers and sailed over half a million miles in her
wartime role.
She was refitted for passenger service in 1946, and returned to
Union-Castle's mail service in 1947. After her sale to Taiwanese
scrappers fell through in 1965, Stirling Castle was broken up in Japan
the following year.
