RMS Ebro

RMS Ebro was an ocean liner that was launched in Ireland in 1914. With changes of ownership she was renamed Princesa Olga in 1935 and Serpa Pinto in 1940. She was scrapped in Belgium in 1955. Ebro was launched for the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company (RMSP), but requisitioned in 1915 as the armed merchant cruiser (AMC) HMS Ebro for the Royal Navy. In 1922 RMSP transferred her to the Pacific Steam Navigation Company (PSNC). She was a Royal Mail Ship until 1935, when Jugoslavenska Lloyd bought her and renamed her Princesa Olga. In 1940 the Companhia Colonial de Navegação (CCN) bought her and renamed her Serpa Pinto. As HMS Ebro in the First World War she served with the 10th Cruiser Squadron from 1915 to 1917, and escorted convoys between the British Isles and Sierra Leone in 1918. As RMS Ebro she sailed between New York and Chile via the Panama Canal. As Princesa Olga she sailed between Italy and Palestine. As Serpa Pinto in the Second World War she made several transatlantic crossings, on which she carried many refugees who had escaped German-occupied Europe. This was the third of four Royal Mail ships that were named Ebro. The first was a sail- and steamship that was built in 1865 as Rakaia, bought and renamed Ebro in 1871, and wrecked in 1882. The second was a steamship that was built in 1896, sold and renamed in 1903, and sunk by a mine in 1917.