Khaberni - During the period of the World Wars, civilian ships were often converted to targets by the warring powers. For instance, in late January 1945, the Soviets targeted the ship Wilhelm Gustloff, which was evacuating a significant number of civilians, killing about 7,000 people.
Before this, during the same war, the Germans had targeted other Soviet ships such as Arminia, whose sinking resulted in the deaths of about 5,000 people, and Georgia, which sank, causing the deaths of about 3,000 of its passengers.
Also on the list is the Canadian hospital ship (HMHS Llandovery Castle). During World War I, the Germans targeted this ship and killed most of its passengers, who were medical staff.
The Llandovery Castle ship was built at the shipyards in Glasgow, Scotland. The construction of this ship was completed in September (September) 1913 before it was launched in January 1914. According to the designs, this ship was over 152 meters long while its width was more than 19 meters. Simultaneously, the weight of Llandovery Castle was more than 10,500 tons, and it was equipped with engines that allowed it to reach a speed estimated at about 15 knots.
Initially, Llandovery Castle operated in the civilian transport sector, specializing in transporting passengers and goods, and conducted voyages for the Union-Castle Line between London and East and West Africa.
During World War II, the ship Llandovery Castle was commandeered by the British Navy and sent to Canada where it served as a hospital ship designated to transport wounded between European cities and Halifax port.
At the beginning of 1917, Germany announced the return to unrestricted submarine warfare in the Atlantic Ocean. Through this measure, Germany aimed to target all ships, even neutral ones, heading towards Britain in hopes of cutting off supplies to it and starving the nation. Meanwhile, this German decision provoked the American authorities who seriously considered entering the war against Germany.
On June 27 (June) 1917, the hospital ship Llandovery Castle was present on the southern coast of Ireland. There, this ship was directly attacked by the German submarine U-86, which targeted it with a torpedo. With this attack, the torpedo created a large hole in the ship’s hull, leading to water quickly leaking inside and the ship sinking in about 10 minutes. Investigations later confirmed that the German submarine targeted the ship Llandovery Castle despite it bearing the Red Cross symbol and despite international laws prohibiting such targeting of these types of ships.
After the attack, a number of crew members from Llandovery Castle managed to survive thanks to the lifeboats they boarded. Meanwhile, the German submarine U-86 approached the lifeboats and surfaced before its crew began targeting the survivors with machine gun fire.
According to reports from that period, at the moment it was targeted, the hospital ship Llandovery Castle was carrying 258 people including 102 medical workers, doctors, and nurses, in addition to war wounded and the ship's crew. During this attack, only 24 people managed to survive while the remaining 234 persons died. Among the victims were a large number of nurses and doctors.
With the end of World War I and Germany’s defeat, the issue of this hospital ship surfaced again. During the Leipzig War Crimes Trial, the case of Llandovery Castle was one of the war crimes cases discussed.
