HMHS Newfoundland

Last updated

HMHS Newfoundland (38) broadside view.jpg
History
Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgNaval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
Name
  • RMS Newfoundland (1925–40)
  • HMHS Newfoundland (?–1943)
Owner Johnston Warren Lines (1925–40) [1]
Operator Furness, Withy & Co (1925–40) [1]
Port of registry Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg Liverpool [1]
Route Liverpool – St John's, Newfoundland – Halifax, Nova Scotia – Boston, MA (1925–?)
Builder Vickers, Sons & Maxim, Barrow-in-Furness [1]
Yard number617
Launched24 January 1925
CompletedJune 1925 [1]
Out of service13 September 1943
Identification
FateDamaged by a Luftwaffe bomb 40 miles off Salerno, 13 September 1943 Scuttled, 14 September 1943
General characteristics
Type
Tonnage6,791  GRT; 3,828  NRT [1]
Length406.1 ft (123.8 m) [1]
Beam55.4 ft (16.9 m) [1]
Draught31.8 ft (9.7 m) [1]
Installed power1,047 NHP [1]
PropulsionVickers quadruple expansion steam engine [1]
Speed15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Notes sister ship: RMS Nova Scotia

HMHS Newfoundland was a British Royal Mail Ship that was requisitioned as a hospital ship in the World War II. She was sunk in 1943 in a Luftwaffe attack off southern Italy. At that point she was one of three ships brightly illuminated, bearing standard Red Cross markings as hospital ships, which was her function, so due protection under the Geneva Convention.

Contents

Building

Vickers, Sons & Maxim, Ltd of Barrow-in-Furness built Newfoundland for Furness, Withy & Co of Liverpool. [1] Her 1,047 NHP quadruple expansion steam engine was fed by five 215 lbf/in2 single-ended boilers with a total heating surface of 16,095 square feet (1,495 m2). [1] Her boilers were heated by 20 oil-fuelled corrugated furnaces with a grate surface of 377 square feet (35 m2). [1]

Civilian service

Newfoundland worked Furness, Withy's regular transatlantic mail route between Liverpool and Boston via St John's, Newfoundland and Halifax, Nova Scotia. [3] In May 1926 she was joined by a sister ship, RMS Nova Scotia. [4]

Early war service

Newfoundland spent the first part of World War II on her peacetime route, carrying wounded troops from the UK to Canada, and bringing the rehabilitated troops back home.[ citation needed ]

In April 1943 Newfoundland repatriated some Allied servicemen from Lisbon to Avonmouth, England. Among them was Flight Lieutenant John F. Leeming RAF, who had been captured with Air Marshal Owen Tudor Boyd (as his Aide-de-Camp) in 1940. His escape plan from Vincigliata PG 12 prisoner of war camp in Italy was by cleverly faking a very bad nervous breakdown case. He succeeded so well that the international medical board, with Swiss and Italian doctors, unhesitatingly accepted his case. As he describes in his book:

In the late afternoon (18 April 1943) we went aboard the British hospital ship Newfoundland, which was lying at the quay ready to sail for England. I walked quickly up the gangway, and as I felt my two feet touch the ship's deck I looked up - I suppose I am too sentimental - at the flag flying from the masthead. "Done it!" I said aloud. [5]

HMHS Newfoundland leaving Algiers harbour, 1943. HMHS Newfoundland.jpg
HMHS Newfoundland leaving Algiers harbour, 1943.

Hospital ship

After the Allied invasion of Italy in September 1943, HMHS Newfoundland was assigned as the hospital ship of the Eighth Army, and was one of two hospital ships sent to deliver 103 American nurses to the Salerno beaches on 12 September. The hospital ships were attacked twice that day by dive bombers, and by evening they were joined by a third hospital ship. Concerned by a number of near misses, it was decided to move the ships out to sea and anchor there for the night. All three ships were brightly illuminated and carried standard Red Cross markings to identify them as hospital ships, and their protection under the Geneva Convention.

At 5:00 a.m. on 13 September while under the command of Captain John Eric Wilson O.B.E, Newfoundland was hit by a Henschel Hs 293 air-launched glide bomb 40 nautical miles (74 km) offshore of Salerno. The bomb was launched by a Dornier Do 217 bomber belonging to KG 100. It struck on the boat deck, abaft of the bridge. The ship was only carrying two patients and 34 crew members. Communications were lost but, more importantly, the fire fighting equipment was completely shattered. Mayo came alongside to rescue the patients, and also put a party on board to help with damage control. By now the ship had caught fire. There was another explosion and it became clear that the oil tanks had also caught fire. The injured crew left the boat and 12 crew members battled the fire for a further 36 hours. The ship was beyond repair and was towed further out to sea and intentionally scuttled the day after the attack by the destroyer Plunkett. Of the people on board, six of the British staff nurses and six medical officers had been killed. One of the medical officers was Lt Col Hartas Foxton, MC 1889 - 1943 who had been a GP in Uttoxeter until the War. Four of the other RAMC doctors who were killed were Major Charles Ryan, RAMC 65313 aged 38, Major George Alexander Hay Adam, RAMC 108781, Major George North Watson, RAMC 75408 and Captain Harry Mathews, RAMC 157582 aged 29. The six Nurses who were killed were Matron Agnes McInnes Cheyne, QAIMNS, 206099, Sister Una Cameron, TANS, 209965 aged 31, Sister Dorothy Mary Cole, QAIMNS, 218052 aged 29, Sister Phyllis Gibson, QAIMNS, 223596 aged 31, Sister Mary Lea, TANS, 213741, aged 31, and Sister Margaret Annie O’Loughlin, QAIMNS, 234988, aged 27.

See also

Related Research Articles

HMS <i>Cheshire</i> UK passenger liner, armed merchant cruiser, and troopship

HMS Cheshire was a passenger ship that was built in Scotland in 1927 and scrapped in Wales in 1957. She belonged to Bibby Line, which ran passenger and cargo services between Rangoon in Burma and various ports in Great Britain, via the Suez Canal and Gibraltar. The Admiralty requisitioned her in 1939 and had her converted into an armed merchant cruiser (AMC). She was converted into a troopship in 1943, and returned to civilian service in 1948.

Junyō Maru Cargo steamship that became a Japanese hell ship

Jun'yō Maru (順陽丸) was a cargo steamship that was built in Scotland in 1913, served a succession of British owners until 1927, and was then in Japanese ownership until a Royal Navy submarine sank her in 1944.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Furness Withy</span>

Furness Withy was a major British transport business. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange.

USS <i>Maartensdijk</i> Cargo steamship that served in the US Navy in the First World War

USS Maartensdijk was a cargo steamship that was laid down in England in 1902 as Egyptiana, but launched as Rapallo. She served in the United States Navy as USS Maartensdijk from 1918 until 1919, with the Naval Registry Identification Number ID-2497.

The SS Belgian was a 5,287-ton steamship which was built in 1919, sold in 1934 becoming Amelia Lauro, seized in 1940 and renamed Empire Activity and wrecked in 1943.

HMHS <i>Glenart Castle</i> 1900 liner used as a hospital ship

HMHS Glenart Castle was a steamship originally built as Galician in 1900 for the Union-Castle Line. She was renamed Glenart Castle in 1914, but was requisitioned for use as a British hospital ship during the First World War. On 26 February 1918, she was hit and sunk by a torpedo fired from the German U-boat UC-56.

SS <i>Polar Chief</i> British merchant steamship

SS Polar Chief was a merchant steamship that was built in England in 1897 and scrapped in Scotland in 1952. In her 55-year career she had previously been called Montcalm, RFA Crenella, Crenella, Rey Alfonso, Anglo-Norse and Empire Chief. Early in the First World War she spent eight months pretending to be the battleship HMS Audacious.

MV El Argentino was a refrigerated cargo motor ship that was built in Scotland in 1920 and sunk by a German aircraft in the Atlantic Ocean in 1943.

SS Canonesa was a refrigerated cargo steamship that was built in Ireland in 1920 and sunk by a u-boat in the Atlantic Ocean in 1940.

RMS <i>Nova Scotia</i> (1926) Sunken ship from the UK

Nova Scotia was a 6,796 GRT UK transatlantic ocean liner and Royal Mail Ship. In World War II she was requisitioned as a troopship. In 1942 a German submarine sank her in the Indian Ocean with the loss of 858 of the 1,052 people aboard.

SS Hertford was a refrigerated cargo steamship that was launched in Germany in 1917, seized by the United Kingdom in 1920 as World War I reparations, and sunk by a U-boat in 1942 with the loss of four members of her crew.

HMS <i>Southern Prince</i> Motor ship that was a British reefer ship, WW2 minelayer, and Italian passenger ship

HMS Southern Prince was a motor ship that was built in 1929 as the refrigerated cargo ship Southern Prince. She was commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1940 as a minelayer. She became a headquarters ship and then an accommodation ship in 1944, was a fleet training ship in 1945, and returned to civilian trade in 1946. In 1947 she was sold to Italian owners who had her refitted as a passenger ship and renamed her Anna C. From 1952 she was a cruise ship. She was scrapped in 1972.

RMS <i>Otranto</i> (1925)

RMS Otranto was an ocean liner that was built for the Orient Steam Navigation Company in 1925. The "RMS" prefix stands for Royal Mail Ship, as she carried overseas mail under a contract between Orient Line and Royal Mail. Otranto was in service until 1957, when she was sold for scrap.

SS British Transport was a general cargo steamship that was built in England in 1910 and scrapped in Italy in 1933. In 1917 she became the first merchant ship to succeed in sinking a U-boat.

MV <i>Bermuda</i> British ocean liner that was destroyed by fire

MS Bermuda was a passenger motor ship that Furness, Withy's Furness Bermuda Line operated between New York and Bermuda from 1928 until 1931.

SS Benlomond was a British cargo steamship that was built in 1922 as Cynthiana, changed owners and names a number of times, and was sunk by a U-boat in 1942, with the loss of all but one of her 53 ship's company. The sole survivor, Poon Lim, drifted on a raft for 133 days before being rescued.

MV Asiatic Prince was a motor cargo liner that was built in Germany in 1926, operated by a British shipping line, and disappeared without trace in the Pacific Ocean in 1928. When she was lost she was carrying silver bullion worth £263,000.

SS <i>Clan Macalister</i> (1930)

SS Clan Macalister was a Clan Line heavy-lift cargo liner. She was launched in 1930 in Scotland and sunk by enemy aircraft during the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940 with the loss of 18 of her crew. She was the largest ship to take part in the Dunkirk evacuation.

Teiryu Maru

SS Teiryu Maru was a steam cargo ship that was launched in England in 1914 as Northwestern Miller. Furness, Withy & Co managed her until 1927, when Norddeutscher Lloyd bought her and renamed her Augsburg.

SS Verdala was a cargo and passenger steamship that was built in Scotland in 1913. Several times she changed owners and was renamed: as Mongolian Prince in 1917, Istok in 1928 and finally Maycrest in 1940.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Lloyd's Register, Steamers and Motorships (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1935. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
  2. ↑ Lloyd's Register, Steamers and Motorships (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1933. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
  3. ↑ "Furness, Withy & Co". Maritime Timetable Images. Björn Larsson. 2001–2013. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
  4. ↑ Lloyd's Register, Steamers and Motorships (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1941. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 February 2014. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
  5. ↑ Leeming, John F (1951). Always To-morrow. London: George G. Harrap and Co. pp. 185–6.

Further reading

40°13′N14°21′E / 40.217°N 14.350°E / 40.217; 14.350

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.