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HMHS Carisbrook Castle

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HMHS Carisbrook Castle
HMHS Carisbrooke Castle.jpg
Carisbrook Castle 1.jpg
History
Name HMHS Carisbrooke Castle
Owner Castle Mail Packets Co. Ltd. - D. Currie & Co., London
Builder Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Ltd., Govan
Yard number 400
Launched 28 Oct 1897
In service 1898
Fate October 1922 broken up in Germany
General characteristics
Type Royal Mail Ship
Tonnage 7,626 tons
Length 485 ft (147.82m)
Beam 56 ft (17.07m)
Depth 32.1 ft (9.7m)
Propulsion single screw
Speed 16 knots (29.63 kmph)
Capacity 250 x 1st class and 140 x 2nd class



Remarks

Laid down as Crookston Castle she was built for the Union Castle Line, to be used on the Southampton to Cape Town route. From 1910 she was partially retired to the role of reserve steamer to RMS Balmoral Castle.


Four years later, on 3 Sep 1914 she was commandeered just two day before war was declared, she entered service as a Hospital Ship, operating from 3 Sep 1914 to 26 Aug 1919. She carried 12 Nurses and 38 other ranks to service up to 16 Officer patients, 196 Cots and 227 berths (439 beds). She also at times carried troops in the Mediterranean.


In late 1919 she returned to the Cape Town route until her replacement the RMS Windsor Castle was completed, when she was laid up at Netley in 1922.

List of soldiers carried

Lemnos to Alexandria 26 - 30 November 1915

Lemnos to Alexandria 9 - 11 January 1916

Le Havre to England 10 November 1916

Le Havre to England 18 December 1916

Rouen to England 12 January 1917

Le Havre to England 20 January 1917

France to England 27 July 1917

France to England 10 August 1917

France to England 27 November 1917

France to England 2 May 1918

France to England 21 May 1918

Rouen to England 5 September 1918

France to England 8 October 1918