Built as a survey ship, Challenger worked around Britain, Labrador, the West Indies, and the East Indies before serving as a convoy escort and rescuing survivors from the torpedoed troopship Anselm. Ironically, she struck a rock off Labrador in 1932 and had to be beached and refloated, showing that a survey vessel was not immune to the hazards it mapped. Postwar deployments took her through the Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf, and Pacific. In 1951 she measured a depth of roughly 11,033 metres in the Mariana Trench, confirming the feature first surveyed by an earlier HMS Challenger. The resulting name, Challenger Deep, links two generations of Royal Navy oceanographic work.
Chapter · 29:14-32:51
HMS Challenger confirms Challenger Deep
The 1930s survey ship Challenger combined wartime escort and rescue duties with global hydrography and a landmark Mariana Trench sounding.