SS Talamba

SS Talamba was a British ocean liner which was converted to a hospital ship in 1941. She was named after Tulamba, Pakistan.

HMHS Talamba as a hospital ship on 24 April 1943.
History
United Kingdom
Name: SS Talamba
Namesake: Talamba
Owner:
Builder: Hawthorn Leslie, Hebburn
Yard number: 533
Laid down: 1924
Launched: 16 July 1924
Completed: 2 October 1924
Reclassified: HMHS Talamba (No.35 & 43)
Identification: Callsign: GKNM
Fate: Sunk by Luftwaffe in 1943.
General characteristics
Type:
Displacement: 8018 tons
Length: 137.4 m (450 ft 9 in)
Beam: 19.4 m (63 ft 8 in)
Draft: 9' 1
Depth: 17.1 m (56 ft 1 in)
Installed power:
  • 4x Triple expansion turbines
  • 2x shafts
Speed: 17 knots (31 km/h)
Boats & landing
craft carried:		 14 x Lifeboats
Capacity: 8100 dwt

Construction and career

She was launched and completed in 1924. She was owned by British India Steam Navigation Company. SS Talamba while sailing from Singapore, an attempt to rush the ship’s bridge by the Chinese deportees but was contained and escorted by HMS Carlisle to Hong Kong.[1]

In 1937, she was grounded after a typhoon at Hong Kong. SS Talamba was designated as a hospital ship in June 1941.

HMHS Talamba assisted in the evacuation of Singapore in January 1942 after the Imperial Japanese have started their conquest over Asia, part of the Pacific Theatre of World War II.

During the amphibious invasion of Sicily, she was attacked twice by the Italian Regia Aeronautica and German Luftwaffe. A bomb fell into her engine room which caused an explosion that killed 5 of her crew but all 400 wounded were evacuated to safety. HMHS Talamba, sank off Syracuse on 10 July 1943.[2]

References
  1. "1937 SS Talamba off Devil's Peak | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong". gwulo.com. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  2. "Sunk By Enemy Action - SS Talamba". Tyne Area Shipping Club. 29 October 2012. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
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