Jumna was one of five iron-hulled vessels of the Euphrates class. All five were built to a design of 360 ft overall length by about 49 ft breadth, although Malabar was very slightly smaller than the rest of the class. They had a single screw, a speed of 14 knots, one funnel, a barque-rig sail plan, three 4-pounder guns, and a white painted hull. Her bow was a "ram bow" which projected forward below the waterline.
She was commissioned jointly by the British Admiralty and the Indian government.[2]
Identification
The Euphrates-class troopships could each be identified by a different coloured hull band.
The Jumna's hull band was red. The blue hull band of her sister Euphrates became the standard for all HM Troopships.[3]
History
Troop-Ships Orontes, Jumna, Malabar, and Euphrates at Bombay, waiting to bring Home Troops from the Afghan War in 1880
In 1873 her Maudslay, Sons and Field 3-cylinder single-expansion steam engine was modified at Portsmouth by the replacement of one low-pressure cylinder with a smaller, high-pressure one, giving her a more efficient compound-expansion engine, albeit with less power and a new top speed of 13 knots (24 km/h).[1]
Jumna circa 1884 on operations for the 1st Sudan War
On 25 August 1883, she collided with HMS Minotaur at Plymouth and ran aground.[4] She shipped back the York and Lancaster Regiment to England from Sudan 29 March to April 1884 [5] In March 1886, she collided with the German steamship Hesperia in the Suez Canal but was not damaged.[6]
Fate
In December 1902 she was still listed as HMS Jumna as she relieved HMS Caledonia as training ship for boys at Queensferry, taking the crew from that ship.[7] A chart showing the moorings in the Firth of Forth adjacent to the Rosyth Naval Base in September 1918 has a mooring marked 'Jumna', and it is possible that this was HMS Jumna, serving as a coal hulk for the fleet.[8]
She became the coal hulk C110 and was sold as the hulk Oceanic in July 1922.[1][9]
Citations
^ abcWinfield, R.; Lyon, D. (2004). The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN978-1-86176-032-6. OCLC52620555.
^Sir Edward Reed, "The British Navy", Harper's Monthly Magazine (European edition), February 1886
^The Royal Navy at Malta, Volume One: The Victorian Era – 1865–1906, page 51, by Richard Ellis & Lt. Cdr. Ben Warlaw RN – ISBN0907771432
^"Naval And Military Intelligence". The Times. No. 30909. London. 27 August 1883. col A, p. 5.
United Kingdom
