HMHS Goorkha
From Our Contribution
 courtesy roll-of-honour.com | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | HMHS Goorkha |
| Owner | Union Steamship Co. |
| Builder | Harland & Wolff, Belfast |
| Launched | 23 January 1897 |
| Completed | 28 August 1897 |
| In service | 1897 |
| Out of service | 1928 |
| Fate | scrapped by Thomas Ward in 1928 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Passenger Liner |
| Tonnage | 6,287 tons |
| Length | 430 ft (131.06m) |
| Beam | 52 ft (15.85m) |
| Propulsion | twin screw |
| Speed | 12.5 knots 923.15 km/h) |
| Capacity | 55 x 1st, 70 x 2nd and 70 x 3rd class passengers. |
Contents
Remarks
Owned by the Union Castle Mail Steamship Co Ltd. Built for the Intermediate service she was transferred to Union-Castle on 8 Mar 1900 when the companies merged. In 1910 she was moved to the East Africa service where she remained until 20 Oct 1914 when she was commissioned as a hospital ship with 408 beds.
The Goorkha was mined off Malta on 10 Oct 1917. The 362 personnel on board included 17 nursing sisters. All survived as she was cleared in 35 minutes. Towed into Malta Harbour where on 18 Oct 1917 she was returned to Union-Castle for repairs and resumption of hospital ship services until the end of hostilities or later. Responsibility for running the ship seems to have moved from the Naval authorities to the ship's owners when she resumed duties. In September 1918 she carried wounded from Salonika to Malta. [1]
The Goorkha was the first hospital ship to enter Constantinople at the end of hostilities with the Turks, but had a happy escape on its way through the Dardanelles when it was almost hit by a floating mine released by one of the minesweepers clearing the minefield ahead of them. The Ghoorkha was laid up at Netley, Southampton Water in 1926 and broken up in 1928.