SS Oxfordshire
From Our Contribution
 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | SS Oxfordshire |
| Builder/Built | 1912 Harland & Wolff, Belfast |
| Type | passenger liner |
| Displacement | 8,648 tons |
| Speed | 15.5 knots |
Remarks
Two days prior to the outbreak of WW1 (2 Aug 1914), the Oxfordshire was requisitioned for war service (the first ship). Initially converted into a Hospital Ship, and following tasks nearer to the UK, she was sent to Mudros Harbour in Apr 1915 as a Base Hospital Ship, remaining in the region until after the evacuation of Gallipoli.
She carried 6 Medical Officers, 13 Nurses and 41 other medical staff to serve accommodation for 22 wounded Officers, 216 other ranks in cots, and 324 in berths. During WW1 she carried in excess of 50,000 wounded to their destinations.
She was also requisitioned as a Hospital Ship during WW2 serving in the Mediterranean, Africa and the Pacific including Okinawa. At the conclusion of the war she was used to repatriate the wounded to the UK from Hong Kong.
In 1949 she carried the first refugees from Europe to Australia before finally being sold for charter work and then broken up at Karachi in 1958.
List of soldiers carried
Robert Alexander Fernie
Herbert Sherwood Marsh
Francis Leonard Martin