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Lot Essay
Ordered for P. & O.'s Australian route, the third Iberia in the company's fleet was built by Harland & Wolff at Belfast and launched on 21st January 1954. Registered at 29,614 tons gross (15,960 net), she measured 719 feet in length with a 91 foot beam and was powered by six steam turbines to provide a cruising speed of 22 knots. Although altered later, her original accommodation housed 697 First and 735 Tourist class passengers coupled with huge cargo capacity and she cost £6,930,000 upon completion.
Handed over by her builders on 10th September 1954, she left Tilbury on her maiden voyage to Sydney via Bombay, Colombo and Melbourne, on 28th September and proved a highly successful ship. Despite being badly damaged in a collision with a tanker off Colombo in March 1956, she continued with scheduled services until 1972 when, after a few months spent cruising, she was sold for scrapping and broken up in Taiwan the following year.
Handed over by her builders on 10