SS Polonia (1910)

Polonia was a passenger steamship that was built in Scotland in 1910, originally named Kursk and was registered in the Russian Empire. She was an Allied troopship in the First World War, when she was briefly operated by Cunard Line. After the war she returned to civilian passenger service, in Latvian service until 1930 and then for Poland.

Building
The Danish East Asiatic Company ordered the ship from Barclay, Curle & Co Ltd of Glasgow. She was built as yard number 482, launched on 7 July 1910 and completed that September. She was launched as Kursk, named after the city of Kursk in western Russia.

Kursk was 450.0 ft long, her beam was 56.2 ft and her draught was 34 ft. Her tonnages were and.

The ship had twin four-cylinder quadruple-expansion engines driving twin screws. Each engine had a 48 in stroke and cylinders of 23+1/4 in, 33 in, 47 in and 68 in bore. Between them, the engines developed 1,020 NHP. The engines were fed by six 215 lbf/in2 single-ended boilers with a total heating surface of 15114 sqft. Her boilers were heated by 18 corrugated furnaces with a grate surface of 363 sqft.

Service
The East Asiatic Company registered Kursk in Liepāja in the Russian Empire. After the October Revolution, the UK Shipping Controller chartered her and placed her under Cunard Line management. In 1920, she was returned to the East Asiatic Company. Kursk was renamed Polonia, the Latin name for Poland.

In 1930, the East Asiatic Company sold its Latvian subsidiary to Polish owners, who renamed the company Polskiego Transatlantyckiego Towarzystwa Okrętowego ("Polish Transatlantic Shipping Company Limited" or PTTO). The ships were operated by Gdynia America Line, which was restructured in 1934 to absorb PTTO.

Gdynia America Line rapidly modernised, taking delivery of the new motor ships MS Piłsudski in 1935 and MS Batory in 1936 for its premier transatlantic service. The company sold Polonia to Francesco Pittaluga in Savona, Italy for scrap on 5 March 1939, a few months before two more new motor ships, MS Sobieski and MS Chrobry, joined the company fleet.