HMHS Dunluce Castle
From Our Contribution
 | |
 IWM FL 11017 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | HMHS Dunluce Castle |
| Owner | Union-Castle Mail Steamship Co. |
| Builder | Harland & Wolff, Belfast |
| Launched | 31 Mar 1904 |
| Completed | 15 Sep 1904 |
| In service | 1904 |
| Out of service | 1945 |
| Reclassified | 1939 accommodation ship |
| Fate | Scrapped 1945 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Passenger ship |
| Tonnage | 8,114 tons |
| Length | 475 ft (144.78m) |
| Beam | 56 ft 6 in (17.22m) |
| Propulsion | twin screw |
| Speed | 14 knots (25.93 km/h) |
Contents
- 1 Remarks
- 2 List of soldiers carried
- 2.1 Anzac Cove to Alexandria 23 - 30 May 1915
- 2.2 Mudros to Malta 24 - 27 September 1915
- 2.3 Le Havre to England 1 January 1917
- 2.4 Le Havre to England 12 Jan 1917
- 2.5 Le Havre to England 9 Feb 1917
- 2.6 England to Egypt 8 - ?? April 1918
- 2.7 Alexandria to Fremantle 7 April 1919 - 7 May 1919
- 2.8 Kantara to Fremantle 17 July 1919 - 17 August 1919
Remarks
Built for the Intermediate service to India and in January 1910 undertook the first London-Cape-Delgoa Bay- Mombasa sailing.
In August 1914 she became a troopship and took part in the famous six ship Union-Castle convoy which brought 4000 troops to Europe. She was commissioned as a hospital ship for 755 patients on 6 Jul 1915 and at Gallipoli and Mudros acted as a transfer ship. In 1916 she was back in the Mediterranean for service which included voyages from the Adriatic to North Africa with wounded Serbs. On 23 Feb 1917 she was stopped by a U-boat and after checking that she was complying with the Hague Convention was allowed to proceed. When in Hospital Ship configuration (6 Jul 1915 - 2 Apr 1919) she carried Medical staff of 10 Officers, 16 Nurses and 74 others. Capable of servicing 52 Officers; 223 cots; and 480 berths.
She returned to commercial service on 2 Apr 1919 and resumed her original run until 1931. In July 1939 she was sold for breaking up but acquired by the Admiralty for use as an accommodation ship for small vessels first in the River Humber and then at Scapa Flow. Finally broken up by Thos.W. Ward and Inverkeithing in 1945.