SS Galeka

SS Galeka
History
United Kingdom
Owner	Union-Castle Mail Steamship Company (1899—1914) Royal Navy (1914—1916)
Builder	Harland & Wolff, Belfast
Yard number	347
Launched	21 October 1899
Completed	23 December 1899
Fate	Struck a mine and sank on 28 October 1916. [1]
General characteristics
Tonnage	6,767 tons
Length	440 ft (130 m)
Beam	53 ft (16 m)
Speed	12.5 knots (23.2 km/h)

SS Galeka was a steamship built in 1899 for the Union-Castle Mail Steamship Company by Harland & Wolff. She was launched on 21 October 1899 and completed on 23 December 1899. ^[2] Later she was requisitioned for use as a British troop transport and then a hospital ship during the First World War. On 28 October 1916 she struck a mine laid by the German U-boat UC-26 and sank.

History

The ship was the last vessel to enter service before the merger between the Union and Castle shipping lines in 1900. She served on the South Africa route until the First World War when she was used by the UK as a troop transport, carrying troops of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps to the Gallipoli Campaign. Galeka was then refitted as a hospital ship with accommodation for 366 wounded passengers.

Sinking

Sinking of SS Galeka

On 28 October 1916, while entering Le Havre, HMHS Galeka struck a naval mine. She was not carrying patients at the time, but 19 Royal Army Medical Corps personnel died in the sinking. She was beached at Cap la Hogue, but was a total loss, Union-Castle's first war casualty.

See also

• List of hospital ships sunk in World War I

References

1. Marc Leroux (2008). "SS Galeka (+1916)". wrecksite. Retrieved 21 August 2009.
2. McCluskie, Tom (2013). The Rise and Fall of Harland and Wolff. Stroud: The History Press. p. 125. ISBN   9780752488615.

49°34′N0°5′E / 49.567°N 0.083°E / 49.567; 0.083