History
Australia
Name	Iron Crown
Owner	Australian Commonwealth Shipping Board (1922–1923) Interstate Steamships Pty Ltd (1923–1942)
Operator	BHP Shipping
Port of registry	Sydney, Australia
Builder	Commonwealth Government Dockyard, Williamstown
Launched	27 January 1922
Identification	UK Official Number 151806 Code Letters VJDK
Fate	Torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-27 on 4 June 1942
General characteristics
Tonnage	3,353 GRT
Length	331 ft (100.89 m)
Beam	47 ft 9 in (14.55 m)
Depth	23 ft 6 in (7.16 m)
Propulsion	1 x triple expansion steam engine (Thompson & Co) 387 hp (289 kW)

SS Iron Crown was a 3,353 GRT Australian iron ore carrier which was sunk during World War II by a Japanese submarine.

History

Iron Crown was built at Williamstown Dockyard as part of the Commonwealth line of steamers for the Australian Commonwealth Shipping Board. She was launched on 27 January 1922 as Euroa,^[1] before being renamed Iron Crown in December 1923^[2] and homeported in Sydney under the British Flag.^[3]

On 4 June 1942, Iron Crown, while en route from Whyalla in South Australia to Newcastle in New South Wales, was torpedoed and sunk 71 km (44 mi) SSW of Gabo Island by I-27. Out of her 43 crew members whom she was carrying, 38 were killed, with the survivors being picked up by SS Mulbera.^[4]

George Fisher, the last survivor, who was aged 18 when the ship sank, died in 2012.^[5]

Wreckage discovery

In April 2019, it was announced that the wreckage of Iron Crown had been located by marine archaeologists aboard CSIRO research vessel RV Investigator in 700 metres of water around 100 km off the coast of Victoria.^[6]

Official number and code letters

Official numbers were a forerunner to IMO Numbers. Iron Crown had the UK Official Number 151806 and used the Code Letters VJDK. ^[3]