Lives of the Liners: ASTURIAS

Owned by Britain’s Royal Mail Lines, it and her sister Alcantara were among the very finest liners on the South Atlantic run, from England to the East Coast of South America.

Refitted as an armed merchant cruiser for duties in World War II, the 1,410-passenger Asturias was torpedoed by an Italian submarine on July 25, 1943. 

Beached at Freetown, Sierra Leone, it was initially declared a complete loss, but then re-appraised and salvaged in 1945. Later rebuilt, but with only one instead of two funnels, Asturias was used as a peacetime troopship and migrant ship.