SS Galeka

HMHS Galeka alongside the larger HMHS Britannic
History
Owner:	Union-Castle Mail Steamship Company
Builder:	Harland and Wolff, Belfast
Yard number:	347
Launched:	21 October 1899
Completed:	23 December 1899
Fate:	Hit a mine laid by German U-boat UC-26 on 28 October 1916.[1]
General characteristics
Tonnage:	6,767 tons
Length:	440 ft (130 m)
Beam:	53 ft (16 m)
Speed:	12.5 knots (23.2 km/h)

SS Galeka was a steam ship built in 1899 for the Union-Castle Mail Steamship Company by Harland and Wolff. It was launched on 21 October 1899 and completed on 23 December 1899.^[2] Later it was requisitioned for use as a British troop transport and then a hospital ship during the First World War. On 28 October 1916 she hit a mine laid by the German U-boat UC-26.

History

The ship was the last vessel to enter service before the merge between the Union and Castle shipping lines. She served on the South Africa route until the First World War when she was used by the UK as a troop transport, carrying troops of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps to the Gallipoli Campaign. Galeka was then refitted as a hospital ship with accommodation for 366 wounded passengers.

Sinking

On 28 October 1916, while entering Le Havre HMHS Galeka struck a mine. She was not carrying patients at the time, but 19 Royal Army Medical Corps personnel died in the sinking. She was beached at Cap la Hogue, but was a total loss, Union-Castle's first war casualty.

See also

• List of hospital ships sunk in World War I

References

1. Marc Leroux (2008). "SS Galeka (+1916)". wrecksite. Retrieved August 21, 2009.
2. McCluskie, Tom (2013). The Rise and Fall of Harland and Wolff. Stroud: The History Press. p. 125. ISBN 9780752488615.

Coordinates: 49°34′N 0°5′E / 49.567°N 0.083°E