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HMT ''Aragon'', originally RMS ''Aragon'', was a 〔 transatlantic Royal Mail Ship that served as a troop ship in the First World War. She was built in Ireland in 1905 and was the first of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company's fleet of "A-liners" that worked regular routes between Southampton and South American ports including Buenos Aires.〔 In 1913 ''Aragon'' became Britain's first Defensively-Armed Merchant Ship ("DAMS") of modern times. In the First World War she served as a troop ship, taking part in the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915. In 1917 a German submarine sank her in the Mediterranean, killing 610 of the personnel aboard. ==Building== Owen Philipps became Chairman of RMSP in 1903 and quickly addressed the company's need for larger ships on its South America route. RMSP ordered ''Aragon'' from Harland and Wolff built in Belfast, where she was launched on 23 February 1905〔 by the Countess Fitzwilliam.〔 He discussed with Charles Parsons the possibility of steam turbine propulsion, which had been demonstrated by the steam launch ''Turbinia'' in 1894. The first turbine-powered passenger ship, , had entered service on the Firth of Clyde in 1901 but Philipps decided that another year of evaluation was needed to establish if and how to apply the new form of steam power to commercial ships. Accordingly, ''Aragon'' was built with a pair of conventional quadruple-expansion steam engines〔 that between them developed 827〔 or 875〔 NHP. They drove twin screws〔 that gave her a speed of .〔 She had a single large funnel amidships.〔 She had 12 lifeboats on her boat deck plus a dinghy and a gig aft. Her 1st class dining saloon had a panelled ceiling inlaid with paintings of Christopher Columbus discovering the Americas. ''Aragon'' had five cargo holds, some of which were refrigerated to carry meat and fruit from South America. Number 5 hold and the lower levels of numbers 1 and 2 holds were for frozen cargos. The 'tween decks of numbers 1 and 2 holds and upper 'tween deck of number 5 hold were for chilled cargos. A steam-powered refrigerating plant used "carbonic anhydride" as the refrigerant, and the holds were insulated with "silicate cotton". Her bunkers held 2,000 tons of coal and she had water tanks with a capacity of about 2,000 tons. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「HMT Aragon」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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