HMHS Aquitania

HMHS Aquitania

Aquitania in Hospital Ship livery en.wikipedia.org
Aquitania at Boston Naval Shipyard, September 1942
History
Name	HMHS Aquitania
Owner	Cunard, White Star Line
Builder	John Brown & Co Ltd, Clydebank, Scotland
Yard number	409
Launched	21 Apr 1913
Completed	24 May 1914
In service	30 May 1914
Out of service	1950
Fate	scrapped in Scotland 1950
General characteristics
Type	Ocean Liner
Tonnage	44,786 tons
Length	901 ft (274.62m)
Beam	97 ft (29.57 m)
Depth	36 ft (10.97 m)
Propulsion	Turbines, 4 screws
Speed	25 knots (46.3 kmph)
Capacity	972 crew; 7,724 troops

Remarks

Owned by the Cunard Line and used on the Southampton-New York (1914) (1920–1939) (1945–1948); Southampton-Halifax (1948–1950) routes during peace time. In civilian use carried she 618 first class passengers, 614 second class, 2,004 third class. These numbers were later reduced as standards changed.

During World War 1 she was initially fitted out as an auxiliary cruiser, before being altered to perform Troopship and Hospital ship duties. For the duration of World War 2 and beyond she performed Troopship duties before being used to transport migrants to Canada until 1949. Aquitania was retired from service in 1949 and was scrapped the following year.

World War I

Acted as both a Troopship and a Hospital Ship.

Mudros to England 18 - 28 September 1915

• Henry Bolton
• Ernest Ball DCM

Mudros to England 21 - 27 October 1915

• † Stanley Joseph Callow Champion
• William Edward Clarence Green

World War II

Used as a troop ship

Fremantle to Port Tewfik, Egypt 20 Apr - 3 Jun 1940

• Kevin James Higgins

Fremantle to Palestine 30 August - 30 September 1940

• Kevin James Higgins

Fremantle to Bombay, transshipped to HMT Rajula for voyage to El Kantara 26 October - 25 November 1940

Boarded on the 25th , sailed on the 26th October.

• Eric Anderson
• † Victor Charles Lowe
• † John Hector Russell MacDonald
• Clarence Malarkey
• Francis Malarkey
• Edwin Reed Marshall
• Donald Roberts Scott
• Allan Cole Uren
• John Patrick Whitaker

Fremantle to Colombo 3 - 12 January 1941

Troops embarked 3 January, ship sailed 5 January
Seven smaller ships carried troops from Convoy US 8 between Colombo and ports in Egypt.

2/28 Battalion

• Albert William Chadwick
• Herbert James Collier
• Ashley Claude George Moseley Cordy
• Andrew Walker Cunningham
• Charles Henry Walter Hansen
• John Peter Lewis Rymer
• † David John Sexty

Other units

• Richard Barrett 9th Division Salvage Unit

Fremantle to Bombay 10 - 22 Feb 1941

• Edward Arthur Sewell

Fremantle to Port Tewfik via Ceylon 9 - 25 July 1941

Boarded 5-8 July, sailed 9 July

• Joseph James Burrows
• Charles William (Charlie) Divall
• Douglas John Elliott
• Ernest Arnold Fallon
• Robert Henry Fletcher
• David Edward Kitchener Granberg
• Ronald Gwynne
• Stanton Edward McKenna
• † Andrew McKenzie
• † Jack North
• Thomas Stanley O'Meagher
• George Charles Owens
• Walter Vivian Ernest Peters
• † Bernard Sydney Smailes
• Arthur Henry Thompson
• † Roy Thomas Aston Wallis
• † David Robert Gerald Watts

Darwin to Ratai Bay, Java via Port Moresby, Sydney and Fremantle 30 December 1941 - 21 January 1942

Two smaller ships, the SS Marella and HMAS Westralia transported the 2/4th to Port Moresby from Darwin - 31 Dec 1941 to 3 Jan 1942.

Seven small Dutch ships carried personnel from Ratai Bay to Keppel Harbour, Singapore 22 - 25 Jan 1942

2/4th Machine Gun Battalion

• James William Basell
• Ronald Hamilton Cornish
• Norman Lenard (Bob) Dunnell boarded in Fremantle 15 Jan 1942
• Basil Fitzgerald
• Charles William (Tiny) Gray
• William Rice Gregory
• Edgar Joseph Howard
• † Edward Johnathon (Ted) Leadbitter
• † Herbert Michael (Bert) Rubery
• Harold Edward (Tony) Saw
• † Fred Whitaker

Fremantle to Egypt 10 February - 17 March 1941

• † Robert Hassett

Port Tewfik, Egypt to Fremantle via Addu Atoll 26 January - 18 February 1943

• Robert Henry Fletcher