Was there a World War 2 troopship called the RMS or HMS Arawa or Arawak which carried U.S. troops to England?

Answer 1

There was a vessel in WW2 called the HMS Arawa. I am myself researching it as my Uncle served on her. She was an armed merchant cruiser belonging to the Royal Navy. She had 7 x 6-inch guns and 2 x 3-inch guns and was 14,462 tons. Her speed was 15 knots. The ship was built in Scotland under the name of Esperance Bay about 1921, renamed Arawa in1936.

It appears that she was used as a passenger ship by the Shaw Saville line until 1939 when she was requisitioned by the Admiralty and converted to an armed vessel. She was manned by Australian reservists. She seems to have been used mainly for 3 week patrols between Hong Kong and Vladivostok with the 4th week stationed in Hong Kong. It worked a year in the China area (its function was to stop German ships leaving Japanese harbors ), after that in the East Indies area and then in the South Atlantic as part of the British fleet where her main work was escorting convoys, mainly tankers and merchant ships, as well as carrying supplies to and from England. Most of the convoy work was between Sierra Leone and Greenock in Scotland. In July 1941 it returned and was used as a troopship (to where I haven't found out yet), and then as a repatriation ship for prisoners. It was returned to Shaw Saville in 1945.

There was a ship SS Arawa ,formaly SS Esperence bay. She was re-named at the commencement of WW2 and was converted to an armed merchant cruiser. The ship in question was not built in Scotland but at Vickers Barrow. It was used mainly as a supply ship {refrigeration} did go to Vladivostok in supply capacity, was used in the North Africa landings as a troop carrier and in Burma. As to escorting convoys this does not conform to any role to my knowledge, but she was crewed by wavy navy as well as civilian merchant men some from Australia, and was active in the China seas. My father served as 2nd Engineering officer {refrigeration}at all above mentioned venues. The ship was also active in the Med on convoy duties. Nb. Was sister ship{as Esperence Bay} to the Jervis Bay. This is not historically accurate as all in formation was conveyed as hearsay by my father, William Moore Smith.

Adenndum: The Esperence bay was reported sunk on three occasions by the Germans. My father told me that this was the reason for the name change, as this was done to protect the vessel from being targeted. The picture of the ship in question clearly shows that the vessel was indeed armed although she may not have been designated as an "armed merchant cruiser" and there appears to be some confusion regarding this in all historical records I was able to find. My father also told me of using anti aircraft weapons against German dive bombers, he did mention Lewis guns but these would have been common to most merchant craft in those circumstances. Please note also that there were several vessels from 1889 onwards known as SS Arawa.