was completed in August 1930 and sailed for the British Columbia Coast. However, Prince Robert was forced to return to Birkenhead after the vessel developed engine troubles. The ship did not enter service until May 1931 and began sailing on the tri-city routes. In July 1931, Prince Robert ran aground near Port Townsend, Washington and was withdrawn from service. By 5 September 1931, the tri-city service was ended and Prince Robert spent most of its time laid up in Vancouver. In 1932 the ship was chartered for extended cruises from Boston, Massachusetts and New York City to destinations such as Bermuda, ports in South America and Hawaii. It was not until 1935 that Prince Robert began seeing more regular service when the ship began to make 11-day cruises to Skagway, Alaska. The 11-day cruises began in Vancouver, stopping in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Sitka, Ketchikan and Juneau, Alaska, before arriving at Skagway. From November through February each year, Skagway froze over during winter and Prince Robert was laid up for overhaul. The three sister ships were considered economic failures for Canadian National, with their arrival coinciding with the Great Depression. Their failure was one of the contributing factors in the resignation of the president of Canadian National, Sir Henry Thornton. The ships were expensive to operate and did not generate new business. In mid-1939, Prince Robert was chosen to act as a royal yacht during the visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth to British Columbia. They embarked aboard Prince Robert at Vancouver and were accompanied by a naval escort to their disembarkation site at Victoria. Conversion Prior to the outbreak of World War II, the Royal Canadian Navy offered to the British Royal Navy to convert vessels for their own armed merchant cruisers if they were provided with the armaments. The offer was accepted and the Royal Canadian Navy looked around for ships for possible conversion. Though the "Princes" were made available, Prince Robert and its sister ships were initially rejected due to their poor range, limited water supply and low top speed. However, after the outbreak of war, there was a shortage of cruisers and destroyers to deter surface raiders, and the conversion of the three vessels was incorporated in the 1939 Shipbuilding Programme. The British Admiralty advised that only two of the ships be converted. Prince Robert was one of the two initially chosen. Though intended