Hellenic Prince Was Formerly H.M.S. Albatross

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 16, Issue 10, 20 October 1950, Page 3

Hellenic Prince Was Formerly H.M.S. Albatross

The 6252-ton Hellenic Prince, in Wellington with 971 displaced persons from Europe, was formerly H.M.S. Albatross, a seaplane repair ship. As a naval ship she seems to have had a comparatively uneveptful career, although she took part in the Normapdy landings.

FrSm reports received in Wellington the ship has undergone little change since the war. She is of the “flat top” variety but with a difference. She has two decks, a high forward deck and low poop deck, the former being used for repairing seaplanes. These were hoisted out of the water by cranes and lowered back again when repaired. As the Albatross, she was laid down at th Cockatoo Shipbuilding Yards, Sydney, in April, 1926, and was complted at the end of 1928 as a seaplane carrier. She cost £1,200,000 to complete with armament and equipment. Transferred to the Royal Navy from the Royal Australian Navy in 1938, she was converted into a repair ship in 1941. After the war she was bought by the China Hellenic Lines, Limited, London. In 1949 she was converted into an immigrant ship and has already made three trips to Australia in this role. Her arrival in Wellington marks the end of the longest voyage ever made by an International Refugee Organisation ship. She will have come from Bremerhaven, Germany. The previous longest was by the Dundalk Bay from Trieste, Italy, to Wellington last year.