 Dover Castle before her wartime service | |
| History | |
|---|---|
  United Kingdom | |
| Name | Dover Castle |
| Namesake | Dover Castle |
| Owner |  Union-Castle Mail Steamship Company |
| Builder | Barclay Curle & Company,Glasgow |
| Yard number | 443 |
| Launched | 4 February 1904 |
| Fate | Torpedoed and sunk, 26 May 1917[1] |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage | 8,271 GRT[2] |
| Length | 476.4 ft (145.2 m) |
| Beam | 56.7 ft (17.3 m) |
| Draught | 31.9 ft (9.7 m) |
| Propulsion | Steam, quadruple expansion engines, 969 nhp |
| Speed | 14.5knots (26.9 km/h) |
HMHSDover Castle (His Majesty's Hospital Ship) was a steam ship originally built for theUnion-Castle Line and launched in 1904. In 1914 she was requisitioned for use as aBritishhospital ship during theFirst World War. On 26 May 1917 she was torpedoed 50nautical miles (93 km; 58 mi) north ofBône,Algeria by the submarineUC-67 of theImperial German Navy.
Dover Castle was built byBarclay Curle & Company,Glasgow asyard number 443, in 1904 andlaunched on 4 February 1904. She was powered byquadruple expansion stream engines. She was built as a combined passenger and cargo vessel for theUnion-Castle Mail Steamship Company, ofLondon.
On 4 October 1916,RMS Franconia, while heading forSalonika, wastorpedoed and sunk by the GermanU-boatUB-47 195nautical miles (361 km; 224 mi) east ofMalta. She was not carrying any troops but out of her 314 crew members, 12 died. The others (302) were saved byDover Castle.[3]
Dover Castle was torpedoed by the German U-boatUC-67 on 26 May 1917, while 50 miles (80 km) north ofBône on passage fromMalta toGibraltar. The initial explosion killed seven boiler stokers, but the crew was able to evacuate the wounded ontoHMS Cameleon. 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 at37°45′N7°45′E / 37.750°N 7.750°E /37.750; 7.750.
Kptlt. Karl Neumann, commanding officer ofUC-67, was tried for sinking the hospital ship at theLeipzig War Crimes Trials. The GermanReichsgericht (Supreme Court) found him not guilty. Neumann admitted torpedoing the ship butpleaded that he was obeying orders issued by the German Admiralty. The German Government had asserted that theAllies 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.[4]
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in May 1917 | |
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| Shipwrecks |
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| Other incidents |
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