Albatros 1/1250 Alk131 HMS Monowai LSI(L) 1943-46
Monowai had been earmarked for military service before WW2 and guns were stored at Devonport, Aukland, New Zealand for her to be converted to an Armed Merchant Cruiser. She was requesitioned by the New Zealand Government in October 1939 and entered service in August 1940. By 1943, more regular warships were available for escort duties and Monowai was handed over to the British Ministry of War Transport for conversion to a Landing Ship. She was refitted in Glasgow to carry 1800 fully equipped soldiers and had 20 large LCA under davits to get the troops with assault equipment ashore quickly. Conversion was completed in February 1944 and she was deployed in the invasion of Normandy in June 1944.
Later in the war, she was used as a troop transport and used on re-patriation voyages at the end of WW2. In 1946 she was returned to the Union Steam Ship Company who , despite her age, refitted her for further service and from 1949 she continued trading until 1960 when she was scrapped in Hong Kong.
Albatros has made other versions of the ship, see Albatros AL306, AL306A & AL306B