H.M. Hospital Ship was built by Wm Beardmore & Company Dalmuir, Yard No 505 in 1912 for the Adelaide Steamship Company. She was 7,713 gross tonnes and measured 413 ft by 57 feet; she was a steamvessel capable of 16 knots and could carry 546 casualties. Initially she was requisitioned first as His Majesty's Australian Troopship, and then as a Military Hospital Ship. She served from 25th July 1916 to 3rd August 1918 and was used on the Southampton - Le Havre route.

On 3rd August 1918, at 1.30 am, while on a voyage from Le Havre, she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine UC-49 in the English Channel. There were 471 sick and wounded on board, 439 of these were cot cases. The losses were very heavy - 115 patients, one nursing sister, and an RAMC orderly. The rest of the patients, staff and crew were evacuated from the ship within an hour. She sank 30 minutes later.