HMAT Warilda

HMAT Warilda^[a] was a 7,713-gross register ton (GRT) vessel, built by William Beardmore and Company in Glasgow as SS Warilda for the Adelaide Steamship Company.^[2] She was designed for the East-West Australian coastal service, but following the start of the First World War, she was converted into a troopship and later, in 1916, she was converted into a hospital ship.

History
United Kingdom
Name	Warilda
Operator	Adelaide Steamship Company
Builder	William Beardmore and Company, Glasgow
Yard number	505
Launched	5 December 1911
Maiden voyage	1912
Fate	Torpedoed and sunk on 3 August 1918.[1]
General characteristics
Tonnage	7,713 GRT
Length	411 ft 3 in (125.35 m)
Beam	56 ft 7 in (17.25 m)
Draught	34 ft 1 in (10.39 m)
Installed power	626 nhp on 6 coal-fired boilers
Propulsion	Twin quadruple expansion engines
Speed	16.36 knots (30.30 km/h; 18.83 mph) maximum

Her identical sister ships, also built by William Beardmore and Company, were HMAT Wandilla (2) (1912) and SS Willochra (1913).^{[citation needed]}

Time as a troopship

• 5 October 1915: 10th Reinforcements, 9th Battalion embarked from Brisbane heading to Egypt.:^[3] 15 Batt embarked Brisbane HMAT A69 Warilda same date^[4]
• 8 October 1915: 10th Reinforcements, 1st Infantry Battalion embarked from Sydney heading to Egypt.^[5]
• 8 October 1915: 10th Reinforcements, 1st Brigade of the AIF, embarked from Liverpool, NSW, Australia. The ship arrived at Fremantle, Western Australia on 15 October 1915, and reached Suez on 5 November, when the troops were disembarked.^[6]
• 25 May 1916: Tunneling Companies, 2 Reinforcements embarked Melbourne.^[7]
• 1 June 1916: Tunneling Company 6, 3rd Tunneling Company embarked from Fremantle, Western Australia 1 June 1916. Disembarked Plymouth, England, 18 July 1916.^[8]

Sinking

On 3 August 1918, HMAT Warilda was transporting wounded soldiers from Le Havre, France, to Southampton when she was torpedoed by the German submarine UC-49.^[9] This was despite being marked clearly with the Red Cross; as with a number of other hospital ships torpedoed during the war, Germany claimed the ships were also carrying arms.^[10]

The ship sank in about two hours, and of the 801 persons on board, 123 died due to the sinking.^[1] The Deputy Chief Controller of the Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corp, Mrs Violet Long, lost her life in this action.^[11] Among the survivors was her commander, Captain Sim, who was later awarded the OBE by King George V.^[12] Her wreck lies in the English Channel.^[13]

Gallery

Notes

1. HMAT is a ship prefix that stands for His Majesty's Australian Transport