Russian hospital ship Vpered

HS Vpered (Russian: госпитальное судно "Вперёд") was a Russian hospital ship that was torpedoed by the Imperial German Navy submarine SM U-38 on 8 July 1916.[1]

Vpered
Vpered during her service as a hospital ship in World War I.
History
Russian Naval Ensign Imperial Russia
Name
  • SS Vpered (1898-1914)
  • (Red Cross) HS Vpered (1914-1916)
OwnerAzov Black Sea Steamship Co.
Port of registryRussian Naval Ensign Imperial Russia, Rostov
Ordered1898
BuilderStabilimento Tecnico
Laid down1898
Launched1898
Completed1898
Maiden voyage1898
In service1898
FateTorpedoed and sunk 8 July 1916
General characteristics
TypePassenger ship/Hospital ship
Tonnage859 GRT

Construction

SS Vpered was built at the Stabilimento Tecnico shipyard in Trieste, Italy, in 1898 for Azov Black Sea Steamship Company. She was launched and completed in the same year. The ship was assessed at 859 GRT.[1]

World War I and sinking

Vpered was converted into a hospital ship when World War I broke out and operated in the Black Sea to evacuate wounded Russian soldiers from the Eastern Front.[1]

On 8 July 1916, Vpered was torpedoed by the Imperial German Navy submarine SM U-38 in the Black Sea between Rize and Batum. She sank shortly after. She was not carrying any wounded soldiers at the time, but seven people died in her sinking. Her survivors were saved a short time later.[2]

The Russian Empire claimed that Ottoman forces sank Vpered rather than the Germans.[3] The Ottoman Empire replied that both the Vpered and the Russian Hospital Ship SS Portugal ( which was torpedoed and sunk on March 17, 1916 ) were sunk by mines.

See also

References
  1. "SS Vperiod (Вперед) (+1916)". wrecksite.eu. 3 October 2010. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
  2. П.Г.Усенко (P.G.Usenko), IСТОРIЇ ВЕЛИКОЇ ВIЙНИ 1914–1917 рр. НА ЧОРНОМУ МОРI (From the history of the Great War of the 1914-1917 on the Black Sea). Page 80. (in Ukrainian)
  3. "Peace Movement Diverts Attention at Year's End from Battlefields to Chancelleries of Belligerents and Principal Neutral Capitals" (PDF). The New York Times. December 31, 1916. Retrieved August 24, 2009.

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