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HMHS Somersetshire
HMHS Somersetshire was a hospital ship, she was lost
after being torpedoed by Uboat 453 on the 7th of April 1942
17th June 1940 Rescue
If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.
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Those known to have sailed in HMHS Somersetshire during the Second World War 1939-1945. - Arnold F.. Driver (d.10th May 1942)
- Gordon G Douglas. Mjr.
- Graham William. Cpl.
- Lewis Caradog. Able Sea. (d.24th Apr 1942)
- O'Hara DSO. Leo Noel. Maj.
The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed,
please
Add a Name to this List
Records of HMHS Somersetshire from other sources.
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Want to know more about HMHS Somersetshire? There are:1 items tagged HMHS Somersetshire available in our Library
These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War. |
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Cpl. William Graham HMS Somersetshire My late father served on the Hospital ship Somersetshire during the war as a Corporal in the RAMC. His name is William Graham, in the photo he is the one with his arm behind his head. I have been trying to find out where she served, is there anyone out there with any information?
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Maj. Leo Noel O'Hara DSO. Royal Army Medical Corps Leo O'Hara was our dad. A doctor, he was a general practitioner in Chelsea and did urology and anaesthetics at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea.
He worked on both HMS Dorsetshire and HMHS Somersetshire at different times. His diary says he was on one of these ships (we're not sure which) at the evacuation from St. Nazaire in June 1940. On the quayside, he discovered a railway wagon containing a substantial amount of France's gold, it was being loaded as a whole into the front hold. He was under orders to remain in France, a fairly harebrained idea and jumped onto the ship as it was going down the lock on its way out of St. Nazaire. He was court-martialed and demoted to captain for a while as a result. As they had gone out to sea, they had to steer around the Lancastria, which had been sunk the day before with a major loss of life.
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Mjr. G Douglas Gordon Royal Army Medical Corps I am researching my father, Gordon Douglas' RAMC's stay in Malta at the end of the siege. He arrived there on board HMHS Somersetshire on 28th May 1943 and left on HMHS Dorsetshire on 7th March 1944 (which was my 6th birthday - I was a seevacuee in Kamloops, BC Canada). My father kept a very complete diary of his service from 8th September 1939 to May 1945 through France, Belgium, Dunkirk, North Africa, Palestine, Italy and Chepstow(!) and it is inconceivable that he has made an error over the ships' names. Does anybody know if other ships were renamed Dorsetshire and Somersetshire or what other explanation there may be? Any help would be gratefully acknowledged.
During his time in Malta my father was posted to No 39 General Hospital in/near Mellieha and spent time at No 90 GH in Mtarfa and at No 45 GH at St Patricks. Any records of the locations of these hospitals or photographs would also be of great interest to me.
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Driver F. Arnold Royal Army Service Corps (d.10th May 1942) I believe my father was on board when HMHS Somersetshire was torpedoed in 1942. He was Driver F. Arnold of the RASC. Any information relating to where this happened, survivors, passenger lists etc would be welcome. All I know is that he was missing at sea and that his name is inscribed on the Alamein memorial.
Update
Somersetshire was attacked by U-453 at 0317 hrs on 6th April 1942 in position 32.13N 26.34E (off the Egyptian coast). Seven people were killed by the blast of the torpedo and she settled by the head; there were no patients on board at the time and all the crew and medical staff left the ship, 66 being taken off by an escorting Greek destroyer and another 114 went into the lifeboats. On the arrival of a tug, several of the crew returned on board and she was successfully towed to Alexandria and was later repaired (I note that the Commonwealth War Grave list the date of death of Frank Arnold as 10 May 1942 - i.e. a month after the attack on the Somersetshire.) For a photo and her history see: http://www.red-duster.co.uk/BIBBY13.htm
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Able Sea. Caradog Lewis HMHS Somersetshire (d.24th Apr 1942) My uncle served on this ship before being killed by a direct hit on his home in Plymouth. All family members killed in the shelter
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