Built as a civilian passenger liner in 1939 by De Schelde at Vlissingen, she was named the MS Koningin Emma, after Queen Emma of the Netherlands, and operated by Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland (SMZ) (The Zealand Steamship Company) between Flushing and Harwich, along with her sister ship, MS Prinses Beatrix.
After fleeing to Britain after the German invasion in 1940, she was requisitioned by the British Ministry of War Transport, renamed HMS Queen Emma and converted to a troopship at Harland and Wolff's yard in Belfast.
The MS Koningin Emma was ordered by the Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland (SMZ) in December 1937 to operate between Vlissingen (Flushing) and Harwich.
She was fitted with "degaussing" coils as protection against German magnetic mines and sailed with her original civilian crew on board in addition to a Dutch Marine detachment.
In September 1940 Koningin Emma was formally taken over by the Admiralty to be converted into an "assault ship" at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast.
On 22 February 1941 Queen Emma arrived at Scapa Flow, where men of 4 Commando boarded, as well as Royal Engineer demolition experts and a contingent of Norwegian troops.
[1] In late 1941 she was selected to join the forces gathered at Freetown, Sierra Leone, for Operation Pilgrim, the planned occupation of the Canary Islands, if either the Spanish or the Germans captured Gibraltar.
However, it soon became clear that Franco did not plan to join the Axis, nor was he prepared to allow the German troops free passage through Spain to attack Gibraltar, and the operation was cancelled.
[1] On 4 November 1941 the British navy tanker RFA Olwen reported that she had been attacked by a German raider, between Natal, Brazil and Freetown.
[1] On 14 February 1942 Queen Emma left Freetown, and returned to England for refitting, after which she was reclassified as a Landing Ship, Infantry (Medium).
Queen Emma and the former Belgian ship Princess Astrid landed men of the Royal Regiment of Canada on "Blue Beach" to the east of Dieppe at Puys.
[1] Queen Emma was then assigned to Training Squadron D based on the Clyde, carrying out exercises with Special Forces and practising the landing of ground troops on enemy beaches.
On the evening of Friday, 13 November 1942, Queen Emma left Algiers with units of the British 78th Infantry Division for Bône, close to the front line.
The British sector was greatly hampered by severe German air attacks, and on 17 July 1943 the Queen Emma was hit, with 18 killed and 70 wounded.
In the weeks after D-Day Queen Emma completed numerous voyages between England and the French coast, carrying men of the U.S. 8th Air Force, and a number of British Guards Divisions, as well as units of the English ATS and Wrens, despite the danger of German coastal batteries, E-boats and midget submarines.
[1] At the end of 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge Queen Emma helped transport the British 6th Airborne Division from England to France as reinforcements.
[1] After this Queen Emma transported Dutch women and children from Japanese concentration camps, and took British troops to Batavia, Semarang and Soerabaja.
[1] Post-war shortages of materials and labour meant that it was 5 March 1948 before Koningin Emma could return to service, sailing for the first time to Harwich from the Hook of Holland.