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HMAT A69 Warilda

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HMAT A69 Warilda
HMAT A69 Warilda.jpg
www.wrecksite.eu
HMAT Warilda 1.jpg
Wikipedia
History
Name HMAT A69 Warilda
Owner Adelaide Steamship Company
Builder Wm Beardmore & Co Ltd, Dalmuir
Yard number 505
Launched 5 Nov 1911
Completed 1912
In service 1912
Out of service 1918
Fate torpedoed 3 Aug 1918
General characteristics
Type troopship / hospital ship
Tonnage 7,713 tons
Length 411.6 ft (125.46m)
Beam 56.7 ft (17.28m)
Depth 34.1 ft (10.39m)
Propulsion twin screw
Speed 14.5 knots (26.85 kph)
Capacity 400 passengers


Remarks

Built for the Adelaide Steamship Company. Commenced passenger services out of Fremantle, Western Australia upon arrival in 1912. Capable of almost 400 passengers in three classes. She was converted into a troopship in August 1915 and made three journeys from Australia in this form. Converted again in 1916, this time to be a Hospital Ship controlled by the British Admiralty and she served as such from 25 Jul 1916 till 3 Aug 1918 on the Southampton-Le Havre run.


On 3rd August 1918 while transporting about 700 sick and wounded men from Le Havre to Southampton, the HS Warilda was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine UC-49. This was despite being marked clearly with the Red Cross; as with a number of other hospital ships torpedoed during the war, Germany claimed the ships were also carrying arms.


The ship sank in about two hours, and of the 801 persons on board, 123 people perished including 19 Australians and the Deputy Chief Controller of the Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corp, Mrs. Violet Long. Those lost at sea in the Channel are commemorated on the Hollybrook Memorial, Southampton.

Medical Staff

Fremantle to Plymouth 1 June - 18 July 1916

Soldiers carried

Fremantle to Port Tewfik 16 February - 13 March 1916

Fremantle to Plymouth 1 June - 18 July 1916

Left Melbourne 25 May 1916

France to England 28 Jan 1917

Rouen to England 8 March 1917

Le Havre to England 3 May 1917

France to England 25 May 1917

France to England 25 September 1917

France to England 14 October 1917

France to England 14 March 1918

France to England 31 May 1918

Other Voyage

  • 5 Oct - 5 November 1915 Brisbane to Port Tewfik, Egypt

15th Battalion and reinforcements for 9th Battalion.
1Oth reinforcements for 1st Battalion embarked in Sydney on 8 October.