HMAT Warilda
 | |
| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | 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).
Time as a troopship
- 5 October 1915: 10th Reinforcements, 9th Battalion embarked from Brisbane heading to Egypt.:[2] 15 Batt embarked Brisbane HMAT A69 Warilda same date [3]
- 8 October 1915: 10th Reinforcements, 1st Infantry Battalion embarked from Sydney heading to Egypt.[4]
- 8 November 1915: 10th Reinforcements, 1st Brigade of the AIF, embarked from Liverpool, NSW, Australia. The ship arrived at Fremantle, Western Australia on 15 October 1915, and reached Suez on 5 November, a Friday, where the troops were disembarked.[5]
- 25 May 1916: Tunneling Companies, 2 Reinforcements embarked Melbourne.[6]
- 1 June 1916: Tunneling Company 6, 3rd Tunneling Company embarked from Fremantle, Western Australia 1 June 1916. Disembarked Plymouth, England, 18 July 1916.[7]
Sinking
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.[8] 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.[9]
The ship sank in about two hours, and of the 801 persons on board, exactly 123 people were sent to their deaths when the Warilda sank to the sea floor.[10] Amongst the survivors was her commander, Captain Sim, who was later awarded the OBE by King George V.[11] Her wreck lies in the English Channel [12]
References
- ↑ Memorial to the Warilda
- ↑ Bede Septimus Connell's obituary
- ↑ WW1 War Service Record SMITH HJ 3093
- ↑ Private Cecil Henry obituary
- ↑ A history of John Robertson Hawke, AIF
- ↑ Corporal ARTHUR WILLIAM JAMES MAGGS' obituary
- ↑ Sgt Joseph ALLEN obituary
- ↑ Adventuredivers.co.uk, Warilda
- ↑ Adventuredivers.co.uk, Lanfranc
- ↑ War Wrecks at netspace.net.au
- ↑ Dictionary of ship names
- ↑ "Wounded drown at night". The New York Times. 6 August 1918. Retrieved 21 August 2009.
External links
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