HMS Artifex

	as HMS Artifex
History
United Kingdom
Name	RMS Aurania
Builder	Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson Ltd., Wallsend-on-Tyne
Launched	6 February 1924
Out of service	Requisitioned on 30 August 1939; Purchased on 24 March 1942;
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Artifex
Acquired	Requisitioned on 30 August 1939; Purchased outright on 24 March 1942;
Commissioned	August 1944
Renamed	Renamed HMS Artifex in November 1942
Reclassified	Armed Merchant Cruiser on 2 October 1939; Repair ship in 1944;
Identification	Pennant number F28
Fate	Scrapped in 1961
General characteristics
Tonnage	13,984 GRT
Length	520 ft (160 m)
Beam	65 ft (20 m)
Propulsion	Steam turbines
Speed	15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Armament	(As AMC) 8 × 6 inch (152 mm) guns; 2 × 3 inch (76 mm) guns;

HMS Artifex was a repair ship of the Royal Navy from late in the Second World War and into the Cold War. Launched as the Cunard liner RMS Aurania she was requisitioned on the outbreak of war to serve as an armed merchant cruiser. Damaged by a U-boat while sailing with an Atlantic convoy, she was purchased outright and converted to a floating workshop, spending the rest of her life as a support ship for the navy.

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