HMHS Salta
Registration number: 136 744
The HMHS Salta was a hospital ship that was operated by the British shipping company Union - Castle Line. Originally made in 1911 as a passenger ship of a French shipping company in service, the Salta served from 1915 at the instigation of the British Admiralty as a hospital ship under the British flag until it ran on April 10, 1917, one of a German U - boat down sea mine in front of Le Havre and sank. This 130 crew members and nurses were killed.
History
The 7284 -ton steamship Salta was built at the shipyard Société Nouvelle des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée (FCM) in La Seyne -sur -Mer on the Cote d' Azur and ran on 13 March 1911 by the stack. The passenger and cargo steamer was 137.8 meters long, 16.3 meters wide and had a maximum draft of 9.6 meters. The ship had two chimneys, two masts and two propellers. The two triple expansion steam engine contributed 7000 hp and allowed a maximum speed of 14 knots (25,9 km / h).
The Salta was built for the French shipping company founded in 1865, Société Générale de Transport Maritimes ( SGTM ) based in Marseille. In July 1911, the ship was completed and turned over its owners. In February 1915 the British Admiralty chartered the steamer and put it under the management of the Union - Castle Line. As HMHS Salta (His Majesty 's Hospital Ship) was henceforth to serve the ship as a hospital ship with 461 patient beds and was customary for white paint with green stripes and the red cross.
Downfall
On Monday, April 9, 1917, the Salta ran under the command of Captain East Away in Southampton at a crossing to Le Havre. She drove in a convoy, which was escorted by several destroyers. In the early morning of April 10 discovered a French patrol boat sea mines at the entrance to the port of Le Havre, then all incoming ships were warned. The mines had been laid the previous day by the German submarine UC 26 ( Lieutenant Matthias Graf von Schmettow ).
At 11.20 clock on the 10th of April, the Salta reached the port entrance of Le Havre and stopped the engines. A patrol boat ordered the convoy to follow him to the destroyer HMS Diamond, whose team examined the Salta and their identity noted. After the ship was allowed the running- in the harbor and the Salta deposited in the channel to Le Havre. As captain of East Away struck a northerly course, he received from the HMS Diamond the radio message that his ship is now approaching the point at which the mines had been sighted. A surviving officer later reported that East Away did not enter because of the bad weather without a pilot in the harbor and therefore let through only the other ships.
When the danger was realized, the course was again changed, but at 11.43 clock the ship half a mile north ran the Whistle Buoy at the entrance to the dam at a mine. A huge explosion tore in the rear near a hole in the engine room and the cargo hold No. 3 Large amounts of seawater poured into the hull of the ship, which sank in less than ten minutes with a strong list to starboard. Although immediate help was on site, the bailout of the heavy seas and strong winds has been hampered. Of the 205 people on board were 79 crew members, 42 members of the Royal Army Medical Corps ( RAMC ) and nine out of twelve nurses of Queen Alexandra 's Imperial Military Nursing Service ( QAIMNS ), including the head nurse Evelyn Maud Dawson, died. The British patrol boat HMS P -26 came alongside the Salta to help, but was also hit by a mine and sank.
Of the 130 deaths were rescued after the sinking of very few. 24 of them were on the Ste. Buried Marie Cemetery, Le Havre. There also reminds a memorial to the missing. The wreck of Salta is suspected in position 49 ° 32 ' 8 " N, 0 ° 2' 18" W49.535555555556 - 0.038333333333333 in 138 meters depth.