RMMV Capetown Castle was a British passenger liner built by Harland & Wolff at Belfast for the Union-Castle Line's mail service from Southampton to South Africa.

After the outbreak of World War II, in January 1940, the government introduced the Liner Requisition Scheme and Capetown Castle was taken up for conversion into a troop ship.

[3] On 17 October 1960 the ship was arriving at Las Palmas when an explosion occurred in the engine room killing seven crewmen.

[4] In July 1965 a long-planned acceleration of the Cape mail service was introduced, reducing the passage time by two days.

She was then put on an "extra" service from Southampton to Cape Town via Flushing (Vlissingen), Madeira, Ascension, St. Helena and Walvis Bay.