| Name: | TALAMBA |
| Type: | Passenger Cargo Ship |
| Launched: | 16/07/1924 |
| Completed: | 02/10/1924 |
| Builder: | R & W Hawthorn, Leslie & Co Ltd |
| Yard: | Hebburn |
| Yard Number: | 533 |
| Dimensions: | 8018grt, 3844nrt, 450.8 x 60.3 x 29.7ft |
| Engines: | 2 x T4cyl (25, 42.5, 51 & 51 x 51ins), 1376nhp |
| Engines by: | R & W Hawthorn, Leslie & Co Ltd, Newcastle |
| Propulsion: | 2 x Screws, 16.0knots |
| Construction: | Steel |
| Reg Number: | 147734 |
| History: | |
| 29/09/1924 | British India Steam Navigation Co Ltd, London |
| 10/07/1943 | Sank |
| Comments: | Accommodation for 56 x 1st, 80 x 2nd class & 2777 deck passengers |
| Third funnel was a dummy, built to impress the potential passengers | |
| Served on the Calcutta to Japan service | |
| 02/09/1937: Caught in a typhoon at Hong Kong she was grounded on Lye Mun | |
| 21/11/1937: Refloated and then repaired by Hong Kong & Whampoa Dockyard Co | |
| 1939: Used as a troop ship between India and UK | |
| 06/1941: Converted into a hospital ship & based at Colombo | |
| 10/07/1943: Bombed & sunk off Syracuse during the Allied landings in Sicily | |
| Attacked even though she was fully illuminated and showing red cross markings | |
| 400 x patients were saved but 5 x crew died |
Above photo is courtesy of Photoship
Ashore after the typhoon in 1937. Photo is courtesy of Photoship
Ashore after the typhoon in 1937. Photo is courtesy of Richard Cox
Above photo, showing TALAMBA as a hospital ship, is copyright of the Imperial War Museum