HMHS ''Dover Castle'' ( His Majesty's Hospital Ship) was a steam ship originally built for the

Union-Castle Line The Union-Castle Line was a British shipping line that operated a fleet of passenger liners and cargo ships between Europe and Africa from 1900 to 1977. It was formed from the merger of the Union Line and Castle Shipping Line. It merged with ...

and launched in 1904. In 1914 she was requisitioned for use as a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

hospital ship A hospital ship is a ship designated for primary function as a floating healthcare, medical treatment facility or hospital. Most are operated by the military forces (mostly navy, navies) of various countries, as they are intended to be used in or ...

during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. On 26 May 1917 she was torpedoed 50 nautical miles North of

Bône Annaba (), formerly known as Bon, Bona and Bône, is a seaport city in the northeastern corner of Algeria, close to the border with Tunisia. Annaba is near the small Seybouse River and is in the Annaba Province. With a population of about 263,65 ...

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

by of the

Imperial German Navy The Imperial German Navy or the ''Kaiserliche Marine'' (Imperial Navy) was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for ...

History

SS ''Dover Castle'' was built by Barclay Curle & Company,

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

as yard number 443, in 1904 and launched on 4 February 1904. She was powered by quadruple expansion stream engines. She was built as a combined passenger and cargo vessel for the Union-Castle Mail Steamship Company, of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. On 4 October 1916, , while heading for

Salonika Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

, was torpedoed and sunk by the German

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

east of

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

. She was not carrying any troops but out of her 314 crew members, 12 died. The others (302) were saved by the ''Dover Castle''.

Sinking

''Dover Castle'' was torpedoed by the German

on 26 May 1917, while north of

on passage from

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

. The initial explosion killed seven boiler stokers, but the crew was able to evacuate the wounded onto . The captain and a small crew tried to save the ship, but she was hit by a second torpedo an hour later and sank in three minutes at .

Prosecution

''Kptlt.'' Karl Neumann, commanding officer of ''UC-67'', was tried for sinking the hospital ship at the

Leipzig War Crimes Trials The Leipzig war crimes trials were held in 1921 to try alleged German War crime, war criminals of the First World War before the German ''Reichsgericht'' (Supreme Court) in Leipzig, as part of the penalties imposed on the German government unde ...

. The German ''

Reichsgericht The (, ) was the supreme criminal and civil court of Germany from 1879 to 1945, encompassing the periods of the German Empire, the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany. It was based in Leipzig. The began its work on 1 October 1879, the date on w ...

'' (Supreme Court) found him not guilty. Neumann admitted torpedoing the ship but pleaded that he was obeying orders issued by the German Admiralty. The German Government had asserted that the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...

were using hospital ships for military purposes and declared on 19 March 1917 that German submarines could attack hospital ships not complying with several German conditions. The court held that Neumann believed the order to be a lawful reprisal and therefore was not personally responsible for the sinking.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dover Castle Ships built on the River Clyde Hospital ships in World War I Hospital ships of the Royal Navy Ships of the Union-Castle Line Ships sunk by German submarines in World War I World War I shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea 1904 ships Maritime incidents in 1917 Attacks on hospitals during World War I World War I crimes by Imperial Germany

History

Sinking

Prosecution

See also

References