SS Normannia (1911)

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TSS Normannia was a passenger steamship built for the London and South Western Railway in 1911. Built by Fairfield, Govan, it was launched on 9 November 1911. With its sister ship Hantonia, it sailed between Southampton and Le Havre. It was among the first cross-Channel steamers fitted with single-reduction geared Parsons turbines, giving speeds over 20 knots and reducing passenger vibration.

Requisitioned by the Admiralty in 1914, Normannia served as a troopship in World War I and helped bring home prisoners such as Elsie Cameron Corbett. It was acquired by the Southern Railway in 1923. On 30 May 1940, during the Dunkirk evacuation (Operation Dynamo), it was bombed in the North Sea about four nautical miles off Dunkirk by Luftwaffe Heinkel aircraft. The ship was beached and abandoned after severe damage.

Specifications: 1,567 gross tons; length 290.3 ft; beam 36.1 ft; draught 15.3 ft.