List of hospital ships sunk in World War I
Encyclopedia
During the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, many hospital ship
Hospital ship
A hospital ship is a ship designated for primary function as a floating medical treatment facility or hospital; most are operated by the military forces of various countries, as they are intended to be used in or near war zones....

s were attacked, both on purpose or by mistaken identity.
They were sunk by either torpedo, mine or surface attack they were easy as well as tragic targets since their cargo were hundreds of wounded soldiers from the front lines.

Background

A hospital ship (HS) is designated for primary function as a medical treatment facility or hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....

; most are operated by the military forces or navies of various countries around the world, as they are intended to be used in or near war zones. Hospital ships were covered under the Hague Convention X of 1907. Article four of the Hague Convention X outlined the restrictions for a hospital ship:
  • The ship should give medical assistance to wounded personnel of all nationalities
  • The ship must not be used for any military purpose
  • Ships must not interfere or hamper enemy combatant vessels
  • Belligerents as designated by the Hague Convention can search any hospital ship to investigate violations of the above restrictions

If any of the restrictions were violated, the ship could be determined as an enemy combatant and be sunk. Investigators from neutral countries like Spain were allowed to inspect hospital ships to confirm that Article Four wasn't being violated.

The high command of Imperial German viewed Allied hospital ships as violating the Hague Convention and ordered its submarine forces to target them as part of their unrestricted warfare
Unrestricted Warfare
Unrestricted Warfare is a book on military strategy written in 1999 by two colonels in the People's Liberation Army, Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui . Its primary concern is how a nation such as China can defeat a technologically superior opponent through a variety of means...

 on Allied shipping. Even with the inspections from neutral countries the German High command alleged that hospital ships were violating Article Four by transporting able-bodied soldiers to the battleground. The biggest hospital ship sunk by either mine or torpedo in the First World War was Britannic
HMHS Britannic
HMHS Britannic was the third and largest of the White Star Line. She was the sister ship of and , and was intended to enter service as a transatlantic passenger liner. She was launched just before the start of the First World War and was laid up at her builders in Belfast for many months before...

, the sister
Sister ship
A sister ship is a ship of the same class as, or of virtually identical design to, another ship. Such vessels share a near-identical hull and superstructure layout, similar displacement, and roughly comparable features and equipment...

 of Olympic
RMS Olympic
RMS Olympic was the lead ship of the Olympic-class ocean liners built for the White Star Line, which also included Titanic and Britannic...

 and the infamous Titanic. Britannic hit a mine on November 21, 1916; 30 people were killed, but the rest of the crew and passengers were able to escape. The largest loss of life caused by the sinking of a hospital ship would be Llandovery Castle
HMHS Llandovery Castle
The Llandovery Castle, built in 1914 in Glasgow as RMS Llandovery Castle for Union Castle Line, was a Canadian hospital ship torpedoed off southern Ireland on 27 June 1918 with the loss of 234 lives....

. The ship was hit by a torpedo from the German U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...

  on June 27, 1918. Shortly thereafter, the submarine surfaced and gunned down most of the survivors; only 24 were rescued. After the war, the captain of U-86, Lieutenant Helmut Patzig, and two of his lieutenants were charged with war crime
War crime
War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...

s and arraigned for trial, but Patzig disappeared, and the two lieutenants both escaped after being convicted and sentenced to prison. The Allies weren't the only ones who had their ships attacked at the beginning of the war, the German hopsital ship Ophelia
German hospital ship Ophelia
German hospital ship Ophelia was a steam ship originally built by a German shipping company, but requisitioned for use as an Imperial German Navy hospital ship during the First World War...

 was seized by British naval forces as a spy ship and near the close of the war the Austrian hospital ship Baron Call was unsuccessfully attacked by torpedo on October 29, 1918.

Hospital Ships sunk

Name Image Nationality Date Location of wreck Cause Lives lost Note
HMHS Anglia
HMHS Anglia
SS Anglia was a steam ship requisitioned for use as a hospital ship during the First World War. On 17 November 1915 she hit a mine laid by the German U-boat, UC-5.-History:...

UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

One mile east of Folkestone
Folkestone
Folkestone is the principal town in the Shepway District of Kent, England. Its original site was in a valley in the sea cliffs and it developed through fishing and its closeness to the Continent as a landing place and trading port. The coming of the railways, the building of a ferry port, and its...

 Gate
134
HMHS Asturias UK 6 miles off Start Point "Asturias" was beached near Bolt Head, but the damage was so extensive that she was declared a total loss. The government then bought and salvaged her, and she became a floating ammunition hulk at Plymouth for two years. 35
HMHS Britannic
HMHS Britannic
HMHS Britannic was the third and largest of the White Star Line. She was the sister ship of and , and was intended to enter service as a transatlantic passenger liner. She was launched just before the start of the First World War and was laid up at her builders in Belfast for many months before...

UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

Aegean sea 37°42′05"N 24°17′02"E 30
HMHS Dover Castle
HMHS Dover Castle
HMHS Dover Castle was a steam ship originally built for the Union-Castle Line, but requisitioned for use as a British hospital ship during the First World War...

UK 37°45′00"N 007°45′00"E 7
HMHS Donegal UK 19 miles south of the Dean lightship on passage Le Havre for Southampton 50°26′00"N 01°00′00"W 40
HMHS Galeka
SS Galeka
SS Galeka was a steam ship originally built for the Union-Castle Mail Steamship Company, but requisitioned for use as a British troop transport and then a hospital ship during the First World War...

UK 49°34′01"N 000°05′05"E Struck a mine 19
HMHS Glenart Castle
HMHS Glenart Castle
HMHS Glenart Castle was a steamship originally built as Galacian in 1900 for the Union-Castle Line. She was renamed Glenart Castle in 1914, but was requisitioned for use as a British hospital ship during the First World War...

UK 51°07′00"N 005°03′00"W Glenart Castle hit a mine between Harve & Southampton on January 3, 1917 but did not sink and was able to make it to port for repairs 162
HMHS Gloucester Castle
HMHS Gloucester Castle
HMHS Gloucester Castle was a steam ship originally built for the Union-Castle Line, but requisitioned for use as a British hospital ship during the First World War. On 31 March 1917 she was torpedoed by German U-boat UB-32. She was, however, salvaged, and returned to civilian service after the war...

UK en route from Le Havre
Le Havre
Le Havre is a city in the Seine-Maritime department of the Haute-Normandie region in France. It is situated in north-western France, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Seine on the English Channel. Le Havre is the most populous commune in the Haute-Normandie region, although the total...

 to Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...

Ship was raised, salvaged and returned to service in 1919; in the Second World War she was sunk by in 1942
3
HS Koningin Regentes Netherlands 21 miles East of Leman lightship 7
HMHS Lanfranc
HMHS Lanfranc
HMHS Lanfranc was a steam ship requisitioned for use as a hospital ship during the First World War. On 17 April 1917 she was hit by a torpedo fired from the German U-boat UB-40.-History:...

UK 50°09′00"N 000°10′04"W 40
HMHS Letitia Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

Portuguese Cove, Halifax Harbour Grounded out due to a pilot error in heavy fog 1
HMHS Llandovery Castle
HMHS Llandovery Castle
The Llandovery Castle, built in 1914 in Glasgow as RMS Llandovery Castle for Union Castle Line, was a Canadian hospital ship torpedoed off southern Ireland on 27 June 1918 with the loss of 234 lives....

Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

off sourthern Ireland 51°18′00"N 009°54′00"W 234
HS Marechiaro
HS Marechiaro
Italian hospital ship Marechiaro was a steam ship originally built by an Italian shipping company, but requisitioned for use as an Italian hospital ship during the First World War...

Italy Off Cape Laghi, Durazzo
Durrës
Durrës is the second largest city of Albania located on the central Albanian coast, about west of the capital Tirana. It is one of the most ancient and economically important cities of Albania. Durres is situated at one of the narrower points of the Adriatic Sea, opposite the Italian ports of Bari...

, Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...

33
HS Portugal
Russian hospital ship Portugal
Russian hospital ship Portugal was a steam ship originally built by a French shipping company, but requisitioned for use as a Russian hospital ship during the First World War. On she was sunk by a torpedo from the German U-boat U-33.-History:...

 (Португаль)
Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...


(French crew, Russian medical staff)
Near Rize Province
Rize Province
Rize Province is a province of north-east Turkey, on the eastern Black Sea coast between Trabzon and Artvin. Its capital is the city of Rize.-Geography:...

 off the Turkish coast in the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...

1916 New York Times article claims that it was sunk by a Turkish sub 90
HMHS Rewa
HMHS Rewa
HMHS Rewa was a steamship originally built for the British-India Steam Navigation Company, but requisitioned for use as a British hospital ship during the First World War...

UK 13 miles off Hartland Point
Hartland Point
Hartland Point is a high rocky outcrop of land on the northwestern tip of the Devon coast in England. It is three miles north-west of the village of Hartland. The point marks the western limit of the Bristol Channel with the Atlantic Ocean continuing to the west...

, UK50°55′00"N 004°49′00"W
4
HMHS Rohilla UK Saltwick Nab, one mile south of Whitby
Whitby
Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a combined maritime, mineral and tourist heritage, and is home to the ruins of Whitby Abbey where Caedmon, the...

Struck Whitby Rock 84
HMHS Salta
HMHS Salta
HMHS Salta was a steam ship originally built for Société Générale de Transport Maritime Steam, but requisitioned for use as a British hospital ship during the First World War...

UK near Le Havre, France 49°32′08"N 00°02′18"W 130
HS Tabora German Empire Dar es Salaam
Dar es Salaam
Dar es Salaam , formerly Mzizima, is the largest city in Tanzania. It is also the country's richest city and a regionally important economic centre. Dar es Salaam is actually an administrative province within Tanzania, and consists of three local government areas or administrative districts: ...

 harbour, East Africa
Sunk by gun fire of the English battleship HMS Vengeance
HMS Vengeance (1899)
HMS Vengeance was a Royal Navy predreadnought battleship of the Canopus class.-Technical Characteristics:HMS Vengeance was laid down by Vickers at Barrow-in-Furness on 23 August 1898 and launched on 25 July 1899. Her completion was delayed by damage to the fitting-out dock, and she was not...

 and the cruiser HMS Challenger
HMS Challenger (1902)
HMS Challenger was a second-class protected cruiser of the Challenger class of the Royal Navy.Commissioned on 30 May 1904, she commenced duty on the Australia Station. She was paid off into reserve on 10 October 1912 before recommissioning during the First World War...

?
HS Vpered (Вперёд)Also transcribed as Vperiode, Vperyod, or Vperiod, sometimes mistranscribed with an l instead of i
Imperial Russia
In the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...

, between Batoum and the Rize Province
Rize Province
Rize Province is a province of north-east Turkey, on the eastern Black Sea coast between Trabzon and Artvin. Its capital is the city of Rize.-Geography:...

 off the Turkish coast
1916 New York Times article claims that is was sunk by a Turkish sub 7
HMAT Warilda
HMAT Warilda
HMAT Warilda was a 7713 ton vessel, built by William Beardmore and Company in Glasgow as the SS Warilda for the Adelaide Steamship Company...

English Channel 50°12′08"N 000°16′4"W 123
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