TS Apollon
ex Lisieux
Nigel Thornton Collection
Steel twin screw steam turbine vessel built in 1951 by Forges et Chantiers de la Mediterranee, Le Havre, France, (Yard No ?) for French Railways as a passenger and cargo vessel.
Technical Data
- Length: 95.49m (overall)
- Breadth of hull: 13.05m
- Depth: 10.14m
- Draught: 3.23m
- Tonnage: 2,943 gross/797 net/356 deadweight
- Engines: 2 x Parsons single reduction geared steam turbines
- Power: 22,000shp
- Speed: 24 knots (22.5 knots in service on one boiler),
- Capacity: 1,450 passengers
- Call Sign: SVRJ (Apollon)
- IMO Number: 5209601
- Registry: Dieppe/France 🇫🇷, Piraeus/Greece 🇬🇷
History
February 26th 1952: Launched.
1952: Trials averaging 25 knots.
March 1952: Entered in service between Dieppe – Newhaven.
Nigel Thornton Collection (Left) John Hendy Collection (Right)
Nigel Thornton Collection
Nigel Thornton Collection
🆕 © Fotoflite (both)
Nigel Thornton Collection
© Derek Longly
Postcards
© Ken Smith
October 1958: Her winter schedule was suspended, owing to a reduction in winter traffic. She subsequently operated only from March to October of each year.
© Ken Larwood
June 26th 1965: She was withdrawn and made her final sailing.
June 1965: For the remainder of that season she was chartered to Compagnie Generale Transatlantique for a 12 week period operating a five-day weekly one sailing between St Malo and Jersey, but with extra day excursions to Guernsey from Torquay on Wednesdays and a sailing from Weymouth on Thursday nights. Such were the financial losses that she was laid up over the winter months.
John Hendy Collection
February 1966: Sold to Petros Nomikos Ferries Greece for about £267,000.
April 1966: After refitting at Le Havre she left for Piraeus, renamed APOLLON entered service between Piraeus – Cyclades Islands.
© A Scrimali, Roy Thornton Collection (Left) Courtesy of Chris Howell (Right)
Nigel Thornton Collection (both)
1976: Petros Nomikos withdrew from passenger business and she was sold to Agapitos Bros., where she entered service from Tinos to Mykonos.
🆕 © Philippe Brébant
1980: Laid up in Perama with engine problems.
October 12th 1982: Sold to Nikolaou Sava Shipyard.
1983: Scrapped at Eleusis.
Nigel Thornton Collection
All information is believed to be correct and no responsibility is accepted for any errors or omissions. All items included in this article are subject to © copyright. We would like to take this opportunity of thanking: Philippe Brébant, Fotoflite, Chris Howell, Ken Larwood, Derek Longly and Andreas Wörteler for their assistance in producing this feature.
In memory of Ken Smith
Article © Nigel Thornton and Ray Goodfellow (Dover Ferry Photos Group)
