HMHS Lanfranc

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SS Lanfranc
SS Lanfranc
Career
Name: Lanfranc
Owner: The Booth Line
Builder: Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Co., Dundee
Launched: 18 October 1906 [1]
Maiden voyage: 18 February 1907
Fate: Torpedoed and sunk by German U-boat UB-40 on 17 April 1917
General characteristics
Tonnage: 6,287 tons gross
Length: 418.5 ft (127.6 m)
Beam: 52.3 ft (15.9 m)
Draught: 27.2 ft (8.3 m)
Propulsion: Twin screw
triple expansion engine
850 nhp
Speed: 12 knots (22 km/h)

HMHS Lanfranc was a steam ship requisitioned for use as a hospital ship during the First World War. On 17 April 1917 she was hit by a torpedo fired from the German U-boat UB-40.

History

Lanfranc was built by the Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Company for the Booth Line. The Booth Line ran passenger services from the United Kingdom to Manaus - 1,000 miles up the Amazon River. With the outbreak of war she was drafted as a hospital ship.

Sinking

On the evening of 17 April the Lanfranc, while transporting wounded to British ports, was torpedoed without warning.[2] 22 British, including 2 officers, and 18 German other ranks were lost.[3]

See also


References

  1. Mackenzie J Gregory (September 25, 2005). "Booth Line's S.S. "Lanfranc" 2". bluestarline.org. http://www.bluestarline.org/booth/lanfranc2.html. Retrieved August 28, 2009. 
  2. The War on hospital ships, from the narratives of eye-witnesses (1917) (1917 ed.). London : T. Fisher Unwin. p. 1. http://www.archive.org/details/waronhospitalshi00lond.  - Call number: SRLF_UCLA:LAGE-3563453
  3. "LIST OF HOSPITAL SHIPS DESTROYED BY SUBMARINES OR MINES". vlib. 2009. http://www.vlib.us/medical/hospships.htm. Retrieved August 28, 2009.