Yard number 985 Out of service 1944 Launched 10 December 1931 Draft 5.39 m Builder Cammell Laird | Completed 1932 Fate Sunk Length 99.7 m Beam 14 m | |
Name 1932-1944 TSS St David Operator 1932-1944 Great Western Railway | ||
TSS St David was a passenger vessel built for the Great Western Railway in 1931.
History
TSS St David was built by Cammell Laird at Birkenhead as one of a pair of new passenger vessels, the other being TSS St Andrew, and launched on 10 December 1931 by Viscountess Churchill, wife of the chairman of the Great Western Railway. She was set to work on the Fishguard to Rosslare service in replacement of her namesake St David of 1906.
She was requisitioned during the Second World War, and served as a hospital ship. She took part in the Dunkirk Evacuation, but was sunk on 24 January 1944 in the Mediterranean Sea off Anzio, Lazio, Italy. At the time she was loaded with wounded soldiers. Although well-marked and lit in accordance with the laws of war, the ship was sunk by German aircraft. Of the 229 people aboard, 96 were killed.