RMS Duke of Lancaster was a steam turbine passenger ship operated by the London Midland and Scottish Railway from 1928 to 1956 between England and Northern Ireland across the Irish Sea. In service She entered service with two other ships, and . Built at William Denny and Brothers, Dumbarton and completed in 1928, she was designed to operate as a passenger ferry between Heysham, Lancashire and Belfast. In May 1929 she sustained slight damage after a collision with her sister ship Duke of Rothesay. On 27 November 1931 she caught fire at Heysham and burned until scuttled on the following day. She was raised in January 1932, repaired at William Denny and Brothers, and returned to service in the following June. In August 1932 Duke of Lancaster went aground on Copeland Island in a fog, but was refloated successfully, and in September 1934 collided with a trawler in Morecambe Bay. She ran aground again at Bride at the Point of Ayre on the Isle of Man on 14 June 1937, but was refloated the following day. On 13 January 1940 she collided with and sank the coaster Fire King belonging to Gilchrist traders of liverpool In 1941 Duke of Lancaster as requisitioned as HM Hospital Ship No.56, with capacity for 408 patients and 60 medical staff, as well as 100 crew. In June 1944 she accompanied the troopships to the Normandy landings. The ship was refitted after the war and fitted with, and used for testing, Marconi's first civil marine radar, the 'Radiolocator 1'. In 1956, like with her sister ships, she was replaced by a new . Fate She was broken up at Briton Ferry on 18 October 1956 by Thos. W. Ward. References Passenger ships of the United Kingdom Ferries of the United Kingdom 1927 ships Ferries of Wales Ships of British Rail Ships of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway Ships built on the River Clyde Maritime incidents in 1929 Maritime incidents in 1931 Maritime incidents in 1932 Maritime incidents in 1934 Maritime incidents in 1937 Maritime incidents in January 1940