SS Simla
From Our Contribution
 | |
 P&O PH-05538-00 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | SS Simla |
| Owner | Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company, Greenock |
| Builder | Caird & Company, Greenock |
| Yard number | 275 |
| Launched | 13 Oct 1894 |
| Completed | 1895 |
| In service | 1895 |
| Out of service | 2 Apr 1916 |
| Fate | Torpedoed & sunk |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Passenger / cargo |
| Tonnage | 5,884 tons |
| Length | 430.0 ft (131.06m) |
| Beam | 49.3 ft (15.03m) |
| Depth | 29.9 ft (9.07m) |
| Propulsion | single screw |
| Speed | 15 knots (27.78 km/h) |
| Capacity | 160 crew + 90 x 1st; 66 x 2nd class |
Remarks
Built for the P & O Line in 1895 and used on the India route. Seems to have been originally known as SS Madras but was launched as SS Simla. She was used on Indian services and trooping as required.
SS Simlar was torpedoed & sunk by the German submarine U-49 on 2 Apr 1916 - obviously after disembarking Thomas Herbert Ludlow and others in Marseilles, 3 days earlier.
"The British SS Simla, while making 11 knots, 45 miles West North West of Gozo, Malta when outward from Marseille, was torpedoed without warning in the Mediterranean. The explosion made a hole in her port side 30 feet by 8 feet in size, and the engines stopped of themselves. This took place at 1 pm. Boats were lowered, and 150 of the crew embarked, the remaining 10, who were Asiatic firemen, having been killed by the explosion. After the ship had been abandoned a submarine appeared and fired seven shells into her, sinking her at 2.30 pm The survivors were picked up by a French patrolboat at 5 pm on the same day. "