 His Majesty's Hospital Ship (HMHS) Braemar Castle | |
| History | |
|---|---|
  United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMHS Braemar Castle |
| Owner | Union-Castle Line |
| Operator |  Royal Navy |
| Port of registry |  United Kingdom |
| Builder | Barclay Curle |
| Yard number | 409 |
| Launched | 23 February 1898 |
| Completed | 1898 |
| In service | 1915 (hospital ship) |
| Out of service | 1924 |
| Fate | Sold for scrap, 1924 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage | 6266 GRT |
| Capacity | 3309 |
SS Braemar Castle was a passenger-cargo steamship, built for Castle Line in 1898, that spent more of her time in British government service than working for her owners. She served both as a troopship and as a hospital ship, prefixed HMT and HMHS respectively, before, during and after the First World War.
She was built in 1898 and originally served as a passenger liner with the Union-Castle Line, sailing from Southampton to South Africa. [1] At the start of the Second Boer War, and from 1909, she served as a troopship and was requisitioned for the British Expeditionary Force in 1914 and in Gallipoli in 1915. [1] Later in 1915, she was converted to a hospital ship, hitting a mine (laid by SM U-73) in the Aegean Sea on 23 November 1916 and being repaired at La Spezia. [2] She continued to serve as a hospital ship, sailing to Murmansk in 1918 and staying until 1920, [1] the last non-Russian ship to leave Archangel. After a brief return to commercial service, Braemar Castle was again requisitioned as a troopship for the peace-keeping force during the Greco-Turkish War. [1] She was sold for demolition in Italy in 1924. [3]
