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SS Oxfordshire

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SS Oxfordshire.jpg
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.

Soldiers carried

Malta to England 18 - 24 September 1915

Mudross to Alexandria 11 Dec - 14 Dec 1915

Port Suez to Fremantle 10 July - 6 August 1916

Egypt to Fremantle 10 July - 4 August 1919