 HMSAl Rawdah berthed next toU-2502 andU-2326 in 1945. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMSAl Rawdah |
| Launched | 10 June 1911 |
| Commissioned | 1941 |
| Decommissioned | 1946 |
| Fate | Scrapped, 1953 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage | 3,549 GRT |
HMSAl Rawdah was a ship of theRoyal Navy. She was built in 1911 and originally christenedChenab for theNourse Line of London.
In 1930 the ship was sold toKhedivial Mail Steamship & Graving Dock and renamedVille De Beyrouth. In 1939 the ship was sold again and renamedAl Rawdah.
In 1940 the BritishMinistry of Shipping requisitioned the vessel and she was managed by theBritish-India Steam Navigation Company Ltd. In 1946Al Rawdah was returned to her owners, and scrapped in 1953.
Between 1940 and 1946 the vessel (described as a "hulk") was used as a military base and prison ship forIrish Republican internees and prisoners. Internment on theAl Rawdah began in 1939 as it was moored just offKillyleagh inStrangford Lough. Conditions on board the ageing ship were not good - food was described as "abominable" by survivors.[1] Internees were packed in "bronchitic squalor" for months or years.[2] On 18 November 1940 Irish Republican internee Jack Gaffney from Belfast died onboard the Al Rawdah.[3] Before being sent to the Al Rawdah, Gaffney had been beaten and died suddenly, possibly from unhealed injuries. In October 1940 another Irish Republican internee - Sean Dolan from Derry died shortly after being released from the Al Rawdah. Nationalist members of the Northern Ireland Parliament raised the issue of internees being stranded on the ship while German aircraft and ships were attacking Belfast. On 12 February 1941 the last internees were relocated to other jails and they were finally released in August 1945.[4]
In the 1920s another British prison ship (HMS Argenta) was used to house hundreds of internees at Belfast Lough where conditions were described as "unbelievable". Prisoners on the Argenta were packed into cages, often succumbing to disease and routinely suffered beatings from guards.[5]
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