165281 was a passenger vessel which served with the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company from 1937 until she was requisitioned for war service at the end of 1940.

Tynwald was sunk in November 1942 off the coast of French North Africa.Tynwald and her identical twin Fenella were built by Vickers Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness and launched on the same day, 16 December 1936.

In the first class dining saloon of the Tynwald the woodwork was Queensland walnut, whilst on the Fenella it consisted of English chestnut.

On 1 October 1937, the Tynwald conveyed the newly appointed Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man, Vice Admiral Leveson-Gower from Liverpool to Douglas.

Earlier that day, her sister Fenella had fouled a mooring rope whilst also attempting to berth at Douglas, which prior to the construction of the Princess Alexandra Pier in 1984, was a notoriously hazardous port due to its exposure during periods of strong easterly wind.

Her log was largely uneventful until with the German onslaught on Belgium and France during the spring of 1940, the plight of the British Expeditionary Force became apparent, and she was dispatched to assist with the evacuation of troops from Dunkirk.

[4] She made her first mission to the shattered port on 28 May, and was one of ten personnel ships that lifted a total of 14,760 troops from the eastern mole the following day.

After a year on convoy escort duties around Britain she was assigned to Operation Torch, the Allied landing in North Africa, and was involved in the amphibious assault on Algiers on 8 November 1942.

Three days later the ship was part of a task force sent to capture an airfield near Bougie (modern Béjaïa) 100 miles east of Algiers.