The British Merchant Navy played a vital role during World War Ⅰ, but at some cost. The losses were immense, with 3,419 ships sunk, totalling over eight million tons. Almost 80 per cent of the ships were destroyed by enemy submarines. Many passenger ships were requisitioned as troopships, hospital ships and armed merchant cruisers. The first British merchant ship to be requisitioned for government service during World War Ⅰ was the two-year-old 8,624gt Oxfordshire. Built in Belfast by Harland & Wolff for the Liverpool-based Bibby Line, she was the largest in the fleet at the time of her requisition on 4 August 1914, two days before the outbreak of war. She was a typical Bibby liner, with four masts and a tall funnel equidistant between the mainmast and the foremast.
展开▼
