Haapalah / Aliyah Bet

The designation HMT (His/Her Majesty's Troopship) replaced the RMS (Royal Mail Steamship) or SS (Steamship) designations on ships converted to troopship duty with the Royal Navy of Great Britain.

HMT Ocean Vigour אושן וייגור was built by Permanente Metals, in Richmond, California.

On November 1, 1946, Latrun לטרון San Demetrio was intercepted by HMS Providence, off Palestine, boarded with no resistance, and escorted to Haifa חיפה.
Able Seaman Alan Green cites: "Providence closed and rammed her, the grappling irons were thrown and the boarding party armed with pick-axe handles and led by a Sub-Lieutenant with a revolver leapt aboard."
The passengers put up resistance before being captured, a fight ensued. and several of passengers and British Marines were hurt.
Stoker Don Allum cites: "I was one of the engine-room men who went down below, and I remember the San Dimitrio listing to one side, and then she went straight over to the other side, which was very scary for us down below."
Latrun לטרון San Demetrio had been damaged, and listed to one side.
Latrun לטרון San Demetrio, damaged and listing to one side, was towed to Haifa חיפה.
Passengers and crew were transferred to a deportation ship, and transported to Famasgusta Αμμόχωστος Gazimağusa. aboard HMT Empire Heywood and HMT Ocean Vigour.

Operation Oasis, implemented by the British, involved converting three freighters into caged prison ships.
* 1,464 people were transported on HMT Ocean Vigour
* around 1,409 were transported on HMT Runnymede Park
* 1,526 were transported on HMT Empire Rival
The three ships were cited in press reports as “a floating Auschwitz” and “cages for wild beasts.”
Wikipedia, from article SS Exodus, cited: The British had identified one of the ships, the Runnymede Park, as the vessel most likely to cause them trouble. A confidential report of the time cited: "It was known that the Jews on the Runnymede Park were under the leadership of a young, capable and energetic fanatic, Morenci Miry Rosman, and throughout the operation it had been realised that this ship might give trouble."
HMS Cardigan Bay was assigned to escort the three British mercantiles, joined by with HMS Tremadoc Bay and HMS Burghead Bay.
Able Seaman Alan Green cites: the three transports were escorted from Marseille to the British internment camp in Germany by "the destroyer Troubridge and the Algerines Welfare, Skipjack and Espiegle."
The passengers assumed they would be interned in camps on Cyprus Kibris, but instead, the convoy sailed to Port-de-Bouc.
The British had concluded, although they knew that sending Jews back to Germany and into camps, would set off world-wide protests, that the only place they could send the Maapilim was to the British-controlled zone in Germany, where they would be placed in DP camps, and screened for extremists.

On April 2, 1947, Palmach saboteurs detonated a bomb on HMT Ocean Vigour, in Famagusta Αμμόχωστος Gazimağusa Harbor, blowing a hole in her hull.
On April 5, 1947, there was an explosion aboard HMT Empire Royal.
The Haganah admitted the bombing.

On June 1, 1947, the Maapilim on Yehuda HaLevy הודה הלוי were transferred to HMT Ocean Vigour transfer ship, for transhipment them to Camp No.55 at Karaolos Καράολος.
The Palyam escorts intermingled with the passengers,and arrived in Cyprus with them.

On August 2, 1947, HMT Ocean Vigour arrived at Port-de-Bouc and the Maapilim remained in the ship for almost a month during a heatwave.
The Maapilim refused to disembark despite the shortage of food, crowding and abominable sanitary conditions, and the French government did not cooperate with the British, and did not force passengers off the boat.

On September 8. 1947, HMT Ocean Voyager (Ocean Voyager) docked at Pier 29.
At 06:25AM, the passengers were instructed, in six different languages, to leave the ship within the hour, freely and without resistance.
When the deadline expired, a last warning was given before the forceful disembarkation commenced.

On December 28, 1947, 19 November arrived off Palestine, and was captured by the British, with no resistance. Passengers were transported to Cyprus aboard HMT Ocean Vigour.

On February 12, 1948, British destroyers, HMS Phoebe, HMS Cheviot and HMS Chaplet, approached Yerushalayim haNetzura ירושלים הנצורה, blocked her path and forced her to sail itowards Haifa.
Tzvi Ben-Tzur cites: "The vessel was boarded by British soldiers but the Palyamnikim had managed to knock out the engines, so that the vessel had to be towed to Haifa. There was no attempt to resist and all of the Ma’apilim and the foreign crew were deported to Cyprus."
Paul H. Silverstone's Aliyah Bet Project cites: was "intercepted off Haifa by the destroyer Cheviot. 402 men, 216 women, 61 children, deported to Cyprus on the Ocean Vigour."

On July 12, 1948, HMT Ocean Vigour, entered Israeli territorial waters, carrying 262 ETZL and Lehi exiles who had been interned in Africa..
An Israeli Navy vessel came from Tel Aviv to greet them, and the captain.
Hailing them, Mila Brenner cites: "This is the captain speaking. Welcome home! We have been sent to greet the exiles who are returning home. From now on, you are free citizens of the State of Israel".

In 1967, HMT Ocean Vigour was scrapped