List of hospitals and hospital ships of the Royal Navy

HMHS is an acronym for His/Her Majesty's Hospital Ship.

Early modern era

Seventeenth century

The earliest record of British hospital ship was Goodwill, which briefly accompanied a Royal Navy squadron in the Mediterranean in 1608 or 1609.^[1]^[2] From 1665 the Royal Navy formally maintained two hospital ships at any time, these being either hired merchant ship or elderly sixth rates, modified from their original design by the removal of internal bulkheads and addition of ports cut through the deck and hull for ventilation. The limit of two hospital ships at a time remained in place until the Nine Years' War at century's end. In 1691 there were four hospital ships in service, rising to five in 1693 and six in 1696.^[1]

In addition to their sailing crew, these seventeenth century hospital ships were staffed by a surgeon and four surgeon's mates. Standard medical supplies were bandages, soap, needles and bedpans, and patients were issued with a clean pair of sheets. Infectious patients were quarantined from the general population behind a sheet of canvas. The quality of food was very poor. In the 1690s the surgeon aboard Siam complained that the meat was in an advanced state of putrefaction, the biscuits were weevil-ridden and bitter, and the bread was so hard that it stripped the skin from patient's mouths.^[1]


Vessel name	Tons burthen	Guns	Crew	Hospital service
Goodwill	not recorded	not recorded	not recorded	1608 or 1609
Joseph	101	4	30-40	1665
Loyal Catherine^[a]	298	36-40	35	1665-1666
Maryland Merchant	not recorded	41	40	1666
John's Advice	330	16	40-54	1672-1674
Unity	118	6-8	not recorded	1683
Welcome	78	10	not recorded	1683
Helderenberg	242	18-30	50	1688
Concord	352	22-30	45	1690-1695
Society	357	22-30	45	1690-1697
Baltimore	300/324	20	45	1691
Spencer	245	20	40-45	1691
London Merchant	250	22-30	30-45	1692-1696
Siam	333	22-30	45-58	1693-1697^[b]
Bristol	532	20	40-45	1692-1694, 1696-1697
Josiah	664	30	30	1696
Muscovy Merchant	250	24	45	1696
London Merchant	250	22-30	30-45	1692-1696

Eighteenth century


Vessel name	Tons burthen	Guns	Crew	Hospital service
Lewis	460	42	50	1701
Suffolk (frigate)	477	8-30	50-70	1701, 1713
Siam	333	2-30	45-58	1702-1703^[b]
Antelope	550	24-30	60-83	1702-1703, 1706-1708
Princess Anne	484	24-30	70-83	1702-1706
Jeffreys	513	20-26	60-73	1702-1708
Sarah and Betty	370	24	45-58	1702-1703
Smyrna Factor	355	24	45-50	1702-1703, 1705-1709
Suffolk (hoy)	not recorded	10-30	80	1703-1704
Matthews	not recorded	not recorded	50-60	1705-1708
Martha	not recorded	22	70-80	1707-1710
Leake	not recorded	14	50-80	1708-1711
Arundel	not recorded	not recorded	not recorded	1709
Pembroke	not recorded	28	60-95	1709-1713
Delicia	not recorded	22	63-65	1710-1713
Looe	553	12-42	60	1717-1718
Portsmouth	not recorded	not recorded	not recorded	1731
Princess Royal	541	18	77	1740-1741
Scarborough	501	18	60	1740-1744
Jersey	1065	60	not recorded	1771-1779
Nabob	637	26	72	1779-1783
Lioness	711	26	72	1780-1783

Boxer Rebellion

HMHS Carthage
HMHS Gwalior
HMHS Maine

Second Boer War

HMHS Avoca
HMHS Dunera
HMHS Lismore Castle
HMHS Maine
HMHS Nubia
HMHS Orcana
HMHS Princess of Wales
HMHS Simla
HMHS Spartan
HMHS Trojan

World War I

HMHS Aberdonian
HMHS Agadir
HMHS Albion
HMHS Alexandra
HMHS Anglia
HMHS Aquitania
HMHS Araguaya
HMHS Assaye
HMHS Asturias
HMHS Berbice
HMHS Brighton
HMHS Britannic
HMHS Cambria
HMHS Carisbrook Castle
HMHS Cecilia
HMHS China
HMHS Copenhagen
HMHS Delta
HMHS Devanha
HMHS Dieppe
HMHS Donegal
HMHS Dongola
HMHS Dover Castle
HMHS Drina
HMHS Dunluce Castle
HMHS Dunvegan Castle
HMHS Ebani
HMHS Egypt
HMHS Ellora
HMHS Erin
HMHS Erinpura
HMHS Essequibo
HMHS Formosa
HMHS Galeka
HMHS Gascon
HMHS Glenart Castle
HMHS Glengorm Castle
HMHS Gloucester Castle
HMHS Goorkha
HMHS Grantala
HMHS Grantully Castle
HMHS Grianaig
HMHS Guildford Castle
HMHS Herefordshire
HMHS Kalyan
HMHS Kanowna
HMHS Karapara
HMHS Karoola
HMHS Kildonan Castle
HMHS Kyarra
HMHS Lanfranc
HMHS Letitia (1912), which served at Gallipoli.^[4]^[5]
HMHS Liberty
HMHS Llandovery Castle
HMHS Loyalty
HMHS Madras
HMHS Magic II
HMHS Maheno
HMHS Marama
HMHS Mauretania
HMHS Morea
HMHS Neuralia
HMHS Nevasa
HMHS Newhaven
HMHS Oxfordshire
HMHS Panama
HMHS Plassy
HMHS Queen Alexandra
HMHS Rewa
HMHS Rohilla
HMHS Salta
HMHS Sheelah
HMHS Sicilia
HMHS Somali
HMHS Soudan
HMHS St. Andrew
HMHS St. Denis
HMHS St. George
HMHS ''St. Margaret of Scotland''
HMHS St. Patrick
HMHS Sunbeam
HMHS Syria
HMHS Tagus
HMHS Takada
HMHS Valdivia
HMHS Varela
HMHS Varsova
HMHS Vasna
HMHS Vita
HMHS Wandilla
HMHS Warilda
HMHS Western Australia

Russian Civil War

Former Royal Naval Hospitals

World War II

HMHS Aba
HMHS Amarapoora
HMHS Amsterdam
HMHS Atlantis
HMHS Brighton
HMHS Cap St Jacques
HMHS Chantilly
HMHS Dinard
HMHS Dorsetshire
HMHS Duke of Argyll
HMHS Duke of Lancaster
HMHS Duke of Rothesay
HMHS El Nil
HMHS Gerusalemme
HMHS Isle of Guernsey
HMHS Isle of Jersey
HMHS Karapara
HMHS Karoa
HMHS Lady Connaught
HMHS Lady Nelson
HMHS Leinster
HMHS Letitia
HMHS Llandovery Castle
HMHS Maid of Kent
HMHS Manunda
HMHS Maunganui
HMHS Naushon
HMHS Newfoundland
HMHS Oxfordshire
HMHS Paris
HMHS Prague
HMHS St Andrew
HMHS St David
HMHS St Julien
HMHS Tairea
HMHS Talamba
HMHS Takliwa
HMHS Vasna
HMHS Vita
HMHS Wanganella
HMHS Worthing

Falklands War hospital ships

RFA hospital ships

Royal Fleet Auxiliary hospital ships:

RFA Maine (1887)
RFA Maine (1905)
RFA Maine (1902)
RFA Maine (1924)
RFA Argus (casualty receiving ship until 2024, not a hospital ship per Hague Convention X of 1907)

Citations

Notes

^ Or Loyal Katherine^[3]
^ ^a ^b Siam served as a hospital ship twice, from 1693 to 1697 and, after reconditioning, from 1702-1703.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Sutherland Shaw, J.J. (1936). "The Hospital Ship, 1608–1740". The Mariner's Mirror. 22 (4): 422–426. doi:10.1080/00253359.1936.10657206.
^ Oppenheim, M. (1896). A History of the Administration of the Royal Navy and of Merchant Shipping in Relation to the Navy. Vol. 1. The Bodley Head. p. 188. OCLC 506062953.
^ Winfield, Rif (2009). British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1603-1714: Design, Construction, Careers and fates. Seaforth. p. 276. ISBN 9781848320406.
^ Henneberry, Allan (2008). Wreck Diving Tales: Diving Nova Scotia's Shipwrecks. Atlantis Marine. pp. 1–5. ISBN 9780595613564.
^ Johnson, Jonathan C. (2016). "Canadian Military Hospitals at Sea 1914-1919" (PDF). Royal Canadian Medical Service Association. Retrieved 18 December 2016.

[4] Or Loyal Katherine^[3]

[fn1-5] Siam served as a hospital ship twice, from 1693 to 1697 and, after reconditioning, from 1702-1703.^[1]

[Shaw-1] Sutherland Shaw, J.J. (1936). "The Hospital Ship, 1608–1740". The Mariner's Mirror. 22 (4): 422–426. doi:10.1080/00253359.1936.10657206.

[2] Oppenheim, M. (1896). A History of the Administration of the Royal Navy and of Merchant Shipping in Relation to the Navy. Vol. 1. The Bodley Head. p. 188. OCLC 506062953.

[3] Winfield, Rif (2009). British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1603-1714: Design, Construction, Careers and fates. Seaforth. p. 276. ISBN 9781848320406.

[6] Henneberry, Allan (2008). Wreck Diving Tales: Diving Nova Scotia's Shipwrecks. Atlantis Marine. pp. 1–5. ISBN 9780595613564.

[7] Johnson, Jonathan C. (2016). "Canadian Military Hospitals at Sea 1914-1919" (PDF). Royal Canadian Medical Service Association. Retrieved 18 December 2016.

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