The Llandovery Castle, built in 1914 in Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

 as RMS Llandovery Castle for Union Castle Line, was a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 hospital ship

Hospital ship

A hospital ship is a ship designated for primary function as a floating medical treatment facility or hospital; most are operated by the military forces of various countries, as they are intended to be used in or near war zones....

 torpedoed off southern Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 on 27 June 1918 with the loss of 234 lives.

When the crew took to the lifeboats, U-86

Unterseeboot 86 (1916)

SM U-86 was a Type Mittel U style submarine manufactured in the Germaniawerft, Kiel shipyard for the German Empire during World War I.On 27 June 1918, under the command of Lieutenant Helmut Patzig, U-86 sank the Canadian hospital ship HMHS Llandovery Castle off the coast of Ireland in violation of...

 surfaced, ran down all the lifeboats except one, and shot at the people in the water. Only the 24 people in the remaining lifeboat survived. They were rescued shortly afterwards and testified as to what had happened. Among those lost were fourteen nursing sisters from across Canada.

After the war, the captain of U-86, Lieutenant Helmut Patzig, and two of his lieutenants were arraigned for trial in Germany on war crime

War crime

War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...

s. The case became famous as one of the "Leiptzig trials". However, the captain Brümmer-Patzig left the country and avoided extradition; and though the two lieutenants were convicted and sentenced to four years in prison, they both escaped. Moreover, at the Court of Appeal, both lieutenants were acquitted on the grounds that the sole responsible was the captain.