The company’s final Monowai was originally launched under the name Razmak for the Peninsular
and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. She was designed for service in Indian waters and began running regular trips between
Bombay and Aden, Yemen, on the Persian Gulf.
The Razmak served on that route until 1930 when it was sold to the Union Steamship Co. and given her
final name. That year the ship, with subsidies by the New Zealand government, was given a refit that included gun mounts in
the event of future use by the New Zealand Navy. The ship’s guns were not mounted but stored at the Devonport Naval
base. The Monowai’s passenger accommodation was changed for 483 third class passengers. The hull was painted Bronze
Green and the superstructure was done in white. The funnels were painted red with black tops.
The Monowai was then put on the company’s regular trans-Pacific run, between Wellington to Vancouver,
to Tahiti, Honolulu and San Francisco. She was replaced on that run in 1932 by the Maunganui, and began shorter runs between
Wellington and Sydney.
The ship survived its years on the seas, and the war, without sustaining severe damage. Among the
worst things that happened to it was a severe gale that was encountered during a 1934 summer crossing from Sydney to Wellington.
It was said to have been a force-eight Southeast gale, the worst storm known off the New South Wales coast in 20 years.
The Monowai battled that storm for 24 hours, taking heavy seas that smashed windows, saturated the
cabins and other facilities in the superstructure and left things in a general shambles. Among the passengers for that voyage
was Alexander Shaw, the new chairman of the steamship line.
On another occasion the Monowai was involved in a medical assist after receiving a radio message that
a cadet aboard the Finnish sail training ship Favell was stricken with acute appendicitis. The Monowai altered course, met
the Favell and took the cadet aboard through a gun-port door. She then steamed for Wellington where the cadet was treated
at a local hospital. The skipper of the Monowai, Captain Arthur Davey, later was awarded the honor of Knight of the White
Rose by the President of Finland for his services.
When war broke out in 1939, the ship was requisitioned by the Royal Navy and she was refitted as an
armed merchant cruiser at Devonport, Auckland. While she spent the war primarily working as a troop carrier, the HMNZS Monowai
was armed with eight 6-inch guns, two 3-inch anti-aircraft guns and six 20 mm guns, plus some machine guns and depth charges.
Her engineering officers were given commissioned rank and remained with her. In addition to carrying troops the cruiser was
assigned to escourt freighters, tankers and liners between Australia, New Zealand and Fiji during the war.
There was one attack by the Japanese submarine 120 in 1942. While under enemy gunfire, Monowai fired
with her port side guns, her rounds just finding range as the submarine crash-dived. She then steamed at high speed to avoid
possible torpedoes. Japanese records show that the sub fired four torpedoes, but they all missed.
In 1943, the Monowai was taken over by the British Ministry of War Transport and converted into an
assault landing ship. Captain G. B. Morgan was given command. Another major overhaul and refitting included installation of
defensive armaments and replacement of lifeboats with 20 assault boats capable of landing 800 troops. Thus she participated
in the vast armada of ships that landed troops during the Normandy Invasion in June, 1944.
Of the 20 landing craft dispatched from Monowai that day, only six of them returned. The rest were
destroyed in combat, mostly by mines during the landing.
The ship served briefly as a troop transport once more after the invasion, now making frequent crossings
to France. It was estimated that she made 45 crossings and carried 73,000 troops into France.
The Monowai was being fitted to participate in another invasion, this time on Japan, but the Japanese
surrendered before the invasion was carried out. She then was sent to Singapore as a "mercy ship." She returned home to England
with 650 service personnel and 199 civilians who had been Japanese prisoners of war.
After months of carrying troops back to their homes throughout the British Empire, the Monowai was
in a neglected and ragged condition. When returned to the Union Steamship Line in 1946, the company was reluctant to pay the
cost of refitting this worn-out ship. But because of a lack of enough ships for the fleet at the end of the war, the work
was done. At a cost of over a million pounds, her aft mast was replaced with derricks, the funnels lowered and much of the
open promenade was enclosed. She was modified to carry 179 first class and 205 cabin or tourist class passengers.
The ship served on her old run between New Zealand and Australia until its retirement in 1960. She
was sold for scrap to a Hong Kong breaking company.