| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMAT Warilda |
| Operator: | Adelaide Steamship Company |
| Builder: | William Beardmore and Company, Glasgow |
| Yard number: | 505 |
| Launched: | 5 December 1911 |
| Maiden voyage: | 1912 |
| Fate: | Torpedoed by German U-boat UC-49 on 3 August 1918. |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 7713 tons gross |
HMAT Warilda (His Majesty's Australian Transport) was a 7713 ton vessel, built by William Beardmore and Company in Glasgow as the SS Warilda for the Adelaide Steamship Company.[1] She was designed for the East-West Australian coastal service, but following the start of the First World War, she was converted into a troopship and later, in 1916, she was converted into a hospital ship.
Her identical sister ships, also built by William Beardmore and Company, were SS Wandilla (1912) and SS Willochra (1913).
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On 3 August 1918, she was transporting wounded soldiers from Le Havre, France to Southampton when she was torpedoed by the German submarine UC-49.[7] 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.[8]
The ship sank in about two hours, and of the 801 persons on board, a total of 123 lives were lost.[9] Amongst the survivors was her commander, Captain Sim, who was later awarded the OBE by King George V.[10] Her wreck lies in the English Channel [11]