Lanfranc (ship, 1907)
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The Lanfranc (II) was a passenger ship put into service in 1907 by the British shipping company Booth Line . During the First World War she served as a hospital ship until she was sunk in the English Channel on April 17, 1917 by the German submarine SM UB 40 .
The ship
The 6,287 gross registered tons (GRT) steamship Lanfranc was built at Caledon Shipbuilding and Engineering in Dundee (Scotland) and was launched on October 18, 1906. It was built as a passenger and cargo ship for the Booth Line ( Booth Steamship Company ) founded in 1881 , which operated a regular liner service from Liverpool via Lisbon to Brazil . The Lanfranc had two sister ships , the Antony (I) (1907, 6446 GRT) and the Hilary (II) (1908, 6329 GRT).
The 127.6 meter long and 15.9 meter wide ship was propelled by triple expansion steam engines that acted on two propellers and enabled a speed of twelve knots. The construction costs amounted to 122,000 pounds sterling (after's then monetary value ). On February 18, 1907, the Lanfranc set out on her maiden voyage . On October 6, 1915, the British government designated the ship as HMHS Lanfranc as a hospital ship with space for 403 people.
On April 17, 1917 at 7.30 p.m. the Lanfranc was torpedoed by the German submarine SM UB 40 (Kapitänleutnant Hans Howaldt ) on a journey to Southampton 42 nautical miles northeast of Le Havre . At the time there were 387 wounded on board, including 167 German prisoners of war . The vessel dropped to the position of 50 ° 7 ' N , 0 ° 7' O . 22 British crew members and 18 German patients were killed in the sinking. The British destroyers HMS Badger and HMS Jackal took part in the rescue of the castaways along with the Royal Navy submarine hunter P47 and the French patrol ship Roitelet . The rescue ships brought the survivors to Portsmouth .
On the same day, another hospital ship, the former canal ferry Donegal (1904, 1885 BRT), was sunk by UC 21 in the English Channel , killing 41 people. The sinking of the two steamers clearly marked as hospital ships without warning caused a great outcry in the Allied press.