12. RMS Lancastria was sunk after the evacuation of Dunkirk
RMS Lancastria was a trans-Atlantic liner built for a subsidiary of Cunard, which operated primarily between Glasgow and Montreal before being refitted to accommodate more than one class of passengers. The ship then operated on the Liverpool-New York schedule throughout the 1930s. When World War II began the British government commandeered the vessel for refitting as a troop transport. After the British army was driven from France and evacuated at Dunkirk, Lancastria was sent to St. Nazaire to evacuate the remaining British citizens, military officers, troops, and diplomats from France. Lancastria was ordered to carry as many passengers as possible, rather than adhering to its passenger limits.
The ship’s passenger limit, including its crew, was 2,200. Lancastria had as many as 8,300 persons aboard when it was attacked by German aircraft while in the Loire estuary. Hit by four bombs the ship sank in less than twenty minutes, with the Germans continuing to strafe survivors in the water. Rescue vessels from the Royal Navy managed to save just under 2,500 from the passengers and crew, but up to 5,800 were killed in the sinking, most of them the remnants of the British Expeditionary Force in France, which the Royal Navy and Churchill’s government did their best to cover up, stressing instead the salvation of the troops at Dunkirk. The loss of Lancastria was the largest loss of life in British maritime history.
