The SS Aguila was a British steam passenger liner constructed by the Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Company in Dundee, completing her in November 1917. She was designed primarily for passenger and cargo transport, belonging to Yeoward Line, which operated routes connecting Liverpool with Lisbon, Madeira, and the Canary Islands. The vessel's construction featured nine corrugated furnaces with a combined grate area of 189 square feet, fueling three single-ended boilers with a total heating surface of 7,054 square feet. These boilers supplied steam at 180 pounds per square inch to a three-cylinder triple expansion steam engine rated at 395 NHP, which powered a single screw propeller, enabling the Aguila to reach a speed of approximately 12.5 knots. The vessel bore similarities to her earlier sister ship, Ardeola, with the same beam but slightly longer and more powerful engines. In the early 1920s, Aguila was joined by her slightly larger sister ships, Alondra and Avoceta, built by Caledon in 1922 and 1923 respectively. Throughout her service, Aguila was equipped with wireless direction-finding gear by 1930 and an echo sounding device from 1934, and was assigned the call sign GPVD. During World War II, Aguila continued her peacetime routes, primarily operating between Liverpool and the Canary Islands, often unescorted beyond convoy protections in the Atlantic. Notably, in August 1940, she narrowly escaped damage when shelled by the Italian submarine Barbarigo, which claimed five hits but failed to damage her. Following this incident, Aguila shifted her route southward to Freetown, then resumed her convoy operations via Gibraltar and Lisbon. Her service was marked by participation in several convoys, including OG 71, where she was part of a convoy attacked by U-boats. On 19 August 1941, Aguila was torpedoed and sunk by U-201 in the Atlantic, with her crew and naval personnel losses commemorated on various memorials. Her sinking exemplifies the peril faced by merchant ships in the Battle of the Atlantic, emphasizing her maritime significance as a vessel involved in vital wartime logistics and convoy operations during WWII.

This description has been generated using GPT-4.1-NANO based on the Vessel's wikidata information and then modified by ShipIndex.org staff.