View source for German hospital ship Ophelia

{{Other uses|Ophelia (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=[[File:SS Ophelia.JPG|300px|SS Ophelia]]
|Ship caption=SS ''Ophelia''
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=[[German Empire]]
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|German Empire|naval}}
|Ship name=''Ophelia''
|Ship owner=
|Ship operator= [[Imperial German Navy]]
|Ship registry=
|Ship route=*1912–14 Hamburg London Linie
*1914 Imperial German Navy Hospital ship<ref name="theshipslist"/>
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder= Flensburger Schiffsbau Gesellschaft<ref name="theshipslist">{{cite web|year = 2009|url = http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/kirsten.htm|title = Kirsten – The Fleets|publisher = The Ships List|accessdate = 3 September 2009|url-status = dead|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20091010180648/http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/kirsten.htm|archivedate = 10 October 2009|df = dmy-all}}</ref>
|Ship original cost=
|Ship yard number=
|Ship way number=
|Ship laid down=
|Ship launched=16 January 1912
|Ship completed= 1912<ref name="theshipslist"/>
|Ship christened=
|Ship acquired=
|Ship maiden voyage=
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship identification=
|Ship fate=Captured 17 October 1914
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship career
| Hide header =title
| Ship country =United Kingdom
| Ship flag ={{shipboxflag|UKGBI|civil}}
| Ship name = ''Huntley''
| Ship fate = Torpedoed and sunk 21 December 1915<ref name="uboat.net.ub.10"/>
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Ship tonnage= 1,153<ref name="theshipslist"/>
|Ship length=
|Ship beam=
|Ship draught=
|Ship propulsion=
|Ship speed=
|Ship range=
|Ship complement=
|Ship notes=
}}
|}
[[File:Onderzeeboten, duikboten, U-boten, SFA022802139.jpg|thumb|Crew of the ''Ophelia'' escorted through [[London]] on their way to court]]
[[File:Onderzeeboten, duikboten, U-boten, SFA022802137.jpg|thumb|Pfeiffer at the British [[Prize Court]]]]
'''''Ophelia''''' was a [[steamship]] originally built by a German shipping company, but requisitioned for use as a [[hospital ship]] by the [[Imperial German Navy]] during the [[First World War]]. After being viewed acting suspiciously, the ''Ophelia'' was boarded on 17 October 1914 and seized by the [[Royal Navy]] for violating [[Hague Conventions (1899 and 1907)#Hague Convention of 1907|Hague Convention X of 1907]] concerning hospital ships.
After her seizure, she operated in British service as '''SS ''Huntley''''' until sunk in December 1915.
==Seizure==
On 17 October 1914 a number of German [[torpedo boat]]s were destroyed during the [[Battle off Texel]] by the British cruiser, {{HMS|Undaunted|1914|6}}, while laying [[naval mine]]s off [[Haak lightship]].<ref name="NYT.1915">{{cite web |date= 22 May 1915|url = https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1915/05/22/106786524.pdf|title = Hold German Hospital Ship|work=The New York Times | access-date =2 September 2009 |quote=}}</ref> German command sent out a [[hospital ship]] to search for survivors. Suspicions were aroused when British intelligence learned that ''Ophelia'' was using a [[Wireless telegraphy|wireless]] radio set,<ref name="Fleck.Bothe">{{cite book |first1 =Dieter |last1=Fleck |first2=Michael |last2=Bothe| title = The handbook of humanitarian law in armed conflicts | date = 18 November 1999 |edition= 1999|page= 479; Clause: 1058| publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]| isbn= 0-19-829867-6}}</ref> at that time unusual for a hospital ship, to communicate with the German wireless base at [[Norddeich radio station|Norddeich station]]. In addition to using wireless radio she was using [[Code (cryptography)|coded]] wireless transmissions; secret codes or their use are forbidden on hospital ships.<ref name="Fleck.Bothe"/>
While in the area, British submarine, {{HMS|D8}}, shadowed the German ship.<ref name="HMSubmarineD8">{{cite web |date= 21 March 2009|url = http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Ships/HMSubmarineD8.html|title = HM Submarine D8|publisher=Roll-of-Honour.com| access-date =3 September 2009 |quote=}}</ref> When the ''Ophelia'' noticed the submarine she began to flee the area, further raising suspicions as her supposed task of searching for German survivors was not completed.<ref name="Birkenhead.lights"/> Under Article 4 of [[Hague Conventions (1899 and 1907)#Hague Convention of 1907|Hague Convention X]], hospital ships cannot be seized but they can be inspected by enemy craft.
{{HMS|Meteor|1914|6}} was sent to investigate the ship.<ref name="uboat.net.ub.10">{{cite Uboat.net |id=2925 |name=Huntly |type=1ship |access-date=3 September 2009
}}</ref> As it approached for boarding and inspection it was observed that her commander, Dr. Pfeiffer, threw overboard a number of documents and secret codes.<ref name="NYT.1915"/><ref name="Military.Medical.Ethics">{{cite book | first1 = Thomas E |last1=Beam |first2=Linette |last2=Sparacino| title = Military Medical Ethics |volume =2 |page= 750| publisher=DIANE Publishing| isbn= 1-4289-1066-2}}</ref>
==Reasons for seizure==
The [[British Admiralty]] seized the ''Ophelia'' as a [[Prize (law)|prize of war]], rather than as a hospital ship. Their reasons for doubting her status as a hospital ship were the dumping of documents by the crew, the transmission of a coded message before the boarding, and the destruction of the ship's wireless set.<ref name="Fleck.Bothe"/><ref name="ICRC">{{cite web |year= 2009 |url = http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/COM/370-580035?OpenDocument|title = Convention (II) for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea. Geneva, 12&nbsp;August 1949.|publisher=[[International Committee of the Red Cross]]| accessdate =3 September 2009 |quote=}}</ref> Furthermore, the ship was not included in the list of hospital ships that were exchanged at the start of the war.<ref name="NYT.1914">{{cite web |date= 6 November 1914|url = https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1914/11/07/100111793.pdf|title = The Ophelia's status|work=The New York Times | accessdate =2 September 2009 |quote=}}</ref>
An enormous number of [[Flare gun|Verey lights]] were discovered on board. Fired from special pistols, Verey lights can be used as signal devices. The ''Ophelia'' had 600 green, 480 red and 140 white lights, and all records of how many she had before the seizure were destroyed before boarding. For comparison, a British hospital ship would stock about 12 lights of each colour.<ref name="Birkenhead.lights">{{cite book | last = Frederick Edwin Smith Birkenhead| title = Famous Trials of History|edition= 2003|page= 273| publisher=[[Kessinger Publishing]]| isbn= 0-7661-6167-6 }} – Total pages: 316</ref>
==German response==
The [[Imperial German Navy]] later used the seizure of ''Ophelia'' as part of the grounds, along with also accusing the Allies of illegally using hospital ships to transport healthy troops and war materiel, for their Admiralty's post-1917 authorisation to U-boats could fire upon Allied hospital ships under certain conditions:
<blockquote>On 17 October,&nbsp;1914 ... we sent out the hospital ship ''Ophelia'' to pick up any survivors. However, the English captured her and made her prize, charging us with having sent her for scouting purposes, although she was obviously fitted up as a hospital ship and bore all the requisite markings...We also considered ourselves released from our obligations and with far more justification took action against hospital ships which, under cover of the Red Cross flag, were patently used for the transport of troops.
— [[Reinhard Scheer|German Admiral Scheer]]<ref name="gwpda">{{cite web |date=28 February 2000 |url=http://www.gwpda.org/naval/rcnmed00.htm |title=Royal Canadian Naval Medical Service |publisher=Great War Primary Documents Archive|accessdate=2 September 2009 |last=Sir Andrew Macphail}}</ref></blockquote>
==Aftermath==
The British renamed the ship SS ''Huntley'' and used her for transporting fuel from [[Portishead, Somerset|Portishead]] to [[Boulogne-sur-Mer|Boulogne]]. On 21 December 1915 she was torpedoed and sunk by the German [[U-boat]] {{SMU|UB-10||2}} {{Convert|.75|mi|km}} off the Boulogne [[light vessel]].<ref name="theshipslist"/><ref name="uboat.net.ub.10"/>
==See also==
* [[List of hospital ships sunk in World War I]]
==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
{{coord missing|Atlantic Ocean}}
{{October 1914 shipwrecks}}
{{December 1915 shipwrecks}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ophelia}}
[[Category:Maritime incidents in October 1914]]
[[Category:Hospital ships in World War I]]
[[Category:Ships built in Flensburg]]
[[Category:World War I auxiliary ships of Germany]]
[[Category:1912 ships]]
[[Category:World War I merchant ships of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Ships sunk by German submarines in World War I]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1915]]
[[Category:World War I shipwrecks in the English Channel]]
[[Category:World War I crimes by the British Empire and Commonwealth]]
[[Category:World War I crimes by Imperial Germany]]
[[Category:Attacks on hospitals during World War I]]
[[Category:Violations of medical neutrality during World War I]]
[[Category:Prize warfare]]