 Tuscania | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | Tuscania |
| Namesake | Tuscany |
| Owner | Anchor Line |
| Builder | Alexander Stephen and Sons,Linthouse |
| Launched | 4 September 1914[1] |
| Fate | Sunk, 5 February 1918 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Ocean liner |
| Tonnage | 14,348 GRT |
| Length | 567 ft (173 m) |
| Beam | 66 ft 4 in (20.22 m) |
| Depth | 45 ft (14 m) |
| Installed power | 6 ×Scotch boilers[1] |
| Propulsion | Parsons steam turbines - twin screw[2] |
| Capacity | 2,500+ passengers |
| Armament | 4-inch naval gun (fitted October 1916)[3] |
| Notes | Transylvania andTuscania were the first installations of geared turbines in large trans-Atlantic vessels.[1] |
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SSTuscania was a luxuryliner of theAnchor Line, a subsidiary of theCunard Line and named afterTuscania, Italy. In 1918 the ship was torpedoed and sunk by the GermanU-boatUB-77 while transporting American troops to Europe with the loss of 210 lives.[4]
Tuscania carried passengers betweenNew York City andGlasgow while in service with theAnchor Line, on a route that had previously been assigned to hersister shipTransylvania.[2] On her first trip to Glasgow,Tuscania was captained byDavid Bone, who was also a popular novelist of maritime adventures[5] based on his life experiences. She continued to run this route even asWorld War I broke out in Europe in August 1914 and Germany initiated asubmarine campaign againstmerchant shipping in waters near theUnited Kingdom.
Tuscania made international headlines for rescuing passengers and crew from the burning Greek steamerAthinai on 20 September 1915.[6] In 1916,Tuscania was refitted and pressed into service as atroopship. She made the news again in March 1917 by evading a submarine and a suspectedImperial German Navyarmed merchant cruiser.[7]
On 24 January 1918,Tuscania departedHoboken, New Jersey, with 384 crew members and 2,013United States Army personnel aboard. On the morning of 5 February 1918, she turned south for theNorth Channel en route Liverpool. The German submarineUB-77 sightedTuscania'sconvoy during the day, and stalked it until early evening. Under the cover of darkness around 6:40 pm, the submarine'scommanding officer,Korvettenkapitän Wilhelm Meyer, ordered twotorpedoes fired atTuscania. The second of these struck home, sending her to the bottom of theIrish Sea within about four hours.Tuscania sank nearly three years to the day after her maiden voyage as a passenger liner. About 210 of the troops and crew were lost,[4] while many others were rescued by theRoyal NavydestroyersMosquito andPigeon.[8] Some of the U.S. Troops were rescued by an Irish fishing boat as well.
The wreck ofTuscania lies betweenScotland'sIslay andNorthern Ireland'sRathlin Island, about 7nautical miles (13 km; 8.1 mi) north of Rathlinlighthouse, at roughly55°22′N6°13′W / 55.367°N 6.217°W /55.367; -6.217 at a depth of 100 metres (330 ft).
Many of the bodies of the drowned servicemen washed up on the shores of Islay and were buried there. The police sergeant atBowmore, Malcolm McNeill, the maternal grandfather ofNATO general secretary (1999 - 2004)George Robertson, had said of local people in his official report: 'though they had so little, they gave so much to help those who were wrecked on their shores' and he wrote back to all those raising enquiries from America on family members lost onTuscania (and in the 1918HMS Otranto sinking).[9]
The loss ofTuscania prompted the government ofWashburn County, Wisconsin to burn its German textbooks as part of anti-German sentiment.[10]
After the First World War, many were reinterred inBrookwood Military Cemetery or repatriated to the United States. Just one grave is left on the island today. In 1919, the American government andAmerican Red Cross unveiled a tower as a permanent memorial,[11] for those lost onTuscania andOtranto, on the southern-most tip of Islay, theMull of Oa.[9]
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in February 1918 | |
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| Shipwrecks |
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| Other incidents |
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