SS Umona in WWI ?

[Tony Walker]

My father embarked from Liverpool on 25 June 1917, bound for Archangel as part of a contingent of the RNAS Armoured Car Division fighting on the Galician Front in southern Russia at the time.  SS Umona was used several times by the ACD and other military to transport men, machinery and supplies to and from Archangel during the war, but I have been unable to determine if my father's ship was the Umona.

Umona does not appear to have been an Armed Merchant Cruiser (pre-war she was a passenger liner for Bullard King and Co Ltd before requisition), but simply 'a Transport'.  Does this mean she would not have carried any guns and armaments?  I ask this because two photos from the album my father compiled throughout his time in Russia show him posing with a gun on board the ship en route to Archangel.  See attachment

Any help appreciated

I have enquired by email at the maritime museum in Liverpool but to date without response.

[Chris Weddell]

Hello Tony,

              From my very little understanding of WWI 'transports' a number of them were armed. I have a letter somewhere from a gunner who served aboard a transport ship on its way to Egypt.

                                                              Chris.