List of hospital ships sunk in World War I
Introduction ''Llandovery Castle'' was hit with a torpedo from German U-boat  on 27 June 1918.The U-boat then opened fire on the survivors.During the First World War, many hospital ships were attacked, sometimes deliberately and sometimes as a result of mistaken identity. They were sunk by either torpedo, mine or surface attack. They were easy targets, since they carried hundreds of wounded soldiers from the front lines.
Background A hospital ship (HS) is designated for primary function as a medical treatment facility or hospital; most are operated by the military forces or navies of various countries around the world, as they are intended to be used in or near war zones. Hospital ships were covered under the Hague Convention X of 1907.Article four of the Hague Convention X outlined the restrictions for a hospital ship:*The ship should give medical assistance to wounded personnel of all nationalities*The ship must not be used for any military purpose*Ships must not interfere or hamper enemy combatant vessels*Belligerents as designated by the Hague Convention can search any hospital ship to investigate violations of the above restrictions.If any of the restrictions were violated, the ship could be determined as an enemy combatant and be sunk. Investigators from neutral countries like Spain were allowed to inspect hospital ships to confirm that Article Four wasn't being violated.The high command of Imperial German viewed Allied hospital ships as violating the Hague Convention and ordered its submarine forces to target them as part of their Unrestricted submarine warfare on Allied shipping. Even with the inspections from neutral countries the German High command alleged that hospital ships were violating Article Four by transporting able-bodied soldiers to the battleground. The biggest hospital ship sunk by either mine or torpedo in the First World War was ''Britannic'', the sister of ''Olympic'' and the ill-fated ''Titanic''. ''Britannic'' hit a mine on November 21, 1916; 30 people were killed, but the rest of the crew and passengers were able to escape. The largest loss of life caused by the sinking of a hospital ship would be ''Llandovery Castle''. The ship was hit by a torpedo from the German U-boat  on June 27, 1918.Shortly thereafter, the submarine surfaced and gunned down most of the survivors; only 24 were rescued. After the war, the captain of ''U-86'', Lieutenant Helmut Patzig, and two of his lieutenants were charged with war crimes and arraigned at the Leipzig war crimes trials, but Patzig disappeared, and the two lieutenants both escaped after being convicted and sentenced to prison. The Allies weren't the only ones who had their ships attacked at the beginning of the war, the German hospital ship ''Ophelia'' was seized by British naval forces as a spy ship and near the close of the war the Austrian hospital ship ''Baron Call'' was unsuccessfully attacked by torpedo on October 29, 1918.
Hospital ships sunk  Name Image Nationality Date Location of wreck Cause Lives lost Note  HMHS Anglia 40px UK  One mile east of Folkestone Gate   134   HMHS Asturias 40px UK  6 miles off Start Point   35     German hospital ship Ophelia 40px UK    off the Boulogne LV. 2   Britannic 40px UK  Aegean sea   30   Dover Castle 40px UK  Mediterranean Sea    7  HMHS ''Donegal'' SS ''Donegal'' 40px UK  19 miles south of the Dean lightship on passage Le Havre for Southampton    40  HS ''Elektra'' HS Elektra 40px Austria-Hungary  Off Cape Planka Torpedoed by French submarine ''Ampère''. Out of service until early Sep 1916; returned to her owner 04 Dec 1916 2  HMHS ''Galeka'' HMHS ''Galeka'' 40px UK  French coast, near Le Havre   Struck a mine laid by  19   HMHS Glenart Castle 40px UK  Bristol Channel    162   Gloucester Castle 40px UK  en route from Le Havre to Southampton  3  HS Koningin Regentes 40px Netherlands  21 miles East of Leman lightship  7  HMHS Lanfranc 40px UK  English Channel    40  HMHS Letitia 40px Canada  Portuguese Cove, Halifax Harbour Grounded out due to a pilot error in heavy fog 1  RMS Llandovery Castle 1907 40px Canada  off southern Ireland   234   HS Marechiaro 40px Italy  Off Cape Laghi, Durazzo, Albania  33 HS ''Oceania''  40px Austria-Hungary  Between Cape Rodoni and Durazzo Mined and beached near Cape Rondoni, and on October 15, 1918 was blown up by the Austrians to avoid falling into Italian hands. ? HS ''Portugal'' (Португаль) Hospital ship Portugal Russian Naval Ensign Russia (French crew, Russian medical staff)  Near Rize Province off the Turkish coast in the Black Sea   90  HSRewa 1907 40px UK  13 miles off Hartland Point, UK   4 HMHS ''Rohilla'' SS Rohilla 40px UK  Saltwick Nab, one mile south of Whitby Struck Whitby Rock 84  HMHS Salta 40px UK  near Le Havre, France    130  HS Tabora 40px German Empire  Dar es Salaam harbour, East Africa Sunk by gunfire from the British warships HMS ''Vengeance'' and HMS ''Challenger'' ? HS ''Tirol'' HS Tirol 40px Austria-Hungary  Off Durazzo Mined. Returned to service 07 Oct 1916 40  HS ''Vpered'' (Вперёд) HS Vpered Russian Naval Ensign Imperial Russia   In the Black Sea, between Batoum and the Rize Province off the Turkish coast   7  HMAT Warilda   English Channel    123  Red Cross Red Crescents
See also * List of hospital ships sunk in World War II
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References * - Total pages: 546