SS Oxfordshire
From Our Contribution
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| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | SS Oxfordshire |
| Owner | Orient Steam Navigation Co Ltd |
| Builder | Harland & Wolff, Belfast |
| Launched | 15 Jun 1912 |
| Completed | 17 Sep 1912 |
| In service | 1912 |
| Out of service | 1958 |
| Fate | scrapped at Karachi |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | passenger liner |
| Tonnage | 8,648 tons |
| Length | 474ft 6in (144.63m) |
| Beam | 55 ft (16.76m) |
| Propulsion | twin screw |
| Speed | 15.5 knots (28.7 kmh) |
| Capacity | 562 patients |
Contents
Remarks
Two days prior to the outbreak of WW1 (2 Aug 1914), while enroute from Liverpool to London, the Oxfordshire was requisitioned for war service and was diverted into Tilbury to be converted to become Naval Hospital Ship No 1. Following tasks nearer to the UK, she was sent in April 1915 to Mudros Harbour to act 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. In late 1916 she served in the Persian Gulf and in East Africa, while in 1918 she was used as a shuttle hospital ship in the English Channel.
On repatriation duties in 1919, she carried the 10th Light Horse Regiment, as a formed unit, from Egypt to Ausatralia, arriving in Fremantle on 4 Aug 1919. On 24 Mar 1920 she was returned to her owners and after being converted to oil burning propulsion she resumed commercial service.
Requisitioned again in 1939, she was again re-configured as Hospital Ship No. 6, and sent to service troops in Africa. In September 1942 she was redeployed to the Mediteranean before undergoing a refit at Clyde in 1944. Her next area of operation was in the Adriatic where she sustained bomb damage while on a run from Ancona to Bari. Sent to the Pacific in November 1944, she participated in the invasion of Okinawa.
Folowing the end of hostilities she was used to repariated ex-POWs from Hong Kong, and spent the next few years returning sick troops to England, Indian troops to India and then carryiung refugees across the Atlantic. She was decommissioned on 19 Jul 1948 and was reconditioned before return to her owners. In April 1949 she carried refugees to Australia, before making several more troop voyages under charter. She was sold in April 1951 to the Pan-Islamic Steamship Co of Karachi providing the Karachi - Jeddah pilgrim service before being broken up in Karachi during 1958.
Arrival of SS Oxfordshire at Fremantle repatriating the 10th Light Horse Regiment