HMAS Grantala

HMAS Grantala was a hospital ship operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) during World War I. She was launched in 1903 by Armstrong Whitworth Company for the Adelaide Steamship Company.[2] The ship operated in Australian waters from 1903, and was requisitioned by the RAN on 7 August 1914. She was returned to her owners in 1915, then was sold and renamed Figuig. The ship was scrapped in 1934.[3]

SS Grantala
History
Name:
  • Grantala (1903–1915)
  • Figuig (1915–1934)[1]
Namesake: Grantala – Aboriginal word for Big
Operator:
Launched: 1903
Fate: Scrapped in Italy in 1934
Australia
Name: Grantala
Acquired: 7 August 1914
Decommissioned: 22 December 1914
Honours and
awards:
  • Battle honours:
  • Rabaul 1914
Fate: Returned to Adelaide Steamship Company
General characteristics
Tonnage: 3,714 gross tonnage[2]
Length: 350 ft (107 m)[2]
Beam: 45.2 ft (14 m)[2]
Depth: 27.2 ft (8 m)[2]

Operational history

Built by Armstrong Whitworth Company at their shipyard in Newcastle upon Tyne for the Adelaide Steamship Company, Grantala was launched in 1903. She was used as a passenger steamship on the Australian coastal runs and was capable of carrying 225 passengers. She arrived in Sydney from London on 10 March 1904.[3]

Hospital ship Grantala off the Fijian capital Suva, November 1914.

Grantala was requisitioned by the RAN on 7 August 1914, and became Australia's first hospital ship and the only RAN hospital ship of World War I.[3] HMAS Grantala was fitted out at Cockatoo Island Dockyard and Garden Island Naval Base.[4] The ship's conversion took just 17 days, and upon completion she had the capacity to carry 250 to 300 patients, who were tended to by a staff of 59.[5] During her short RAN service, she supported the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force landing at Rabaul, which was later recognised with the battle honour "Rabaul 1914".[3][6][7]

Hospital ship Grantala

Grantala was returned to her owners in 1915, and was later sold to Red Funnell Shipping Company and renamed Figuig, before being sold to Compagnie Générale Transatlantique in 1920 and used on the passenger run between Marseilles and Algiers. She was sold for breaking up and was scrapped in Italy in 1934.[3][8]

Citations
  1. "Details of the Ship". Plimsoll ShipData. Retrieved 9 September 2010.
  2. "Llyods Reigister" (PDF). Plimsoll ShipData. Retrieved 9 September 2010.
  3. Wilson, p.50.
  4. "The Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday 29 August 1914, p.14". Retrieved 11 September 2010.
  5. Goyne, Rohan (March 2014). "HMAS Grantala – Australia's First Hospital Ship". Sabretache. Garran, Australian Capital Territory: Military Historical Society of Australia. LV (1): 28–31. ISSN 0048-8933.
  6. "Navy Marks 109th Birthday With Historic Changes To Battle Honours". Royal Australian Navy. 1 March 2010. Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
  7. "Royal Australian Navy Ship/Unit Battle Honours" (PDF). Royal Australian Navy. 1 March 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 June 2011. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
  8. "The West Australian, Saturday 14 July 1934, p.14". Retrieved 11 September 2010.
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References
  • Wilson, Michael. Royal Australian Navy 21st Century Warships, Naval auxiliaries 1911 to 1999 including Defence Maritime Services, Profile No. 4 (Revised ed.). Marrickville, New South Wales: Topmill. ISBN 978-1-876270-72-8.
  • Hospital ship No. VIII
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