Page 35 - QARANC Vol 17 No 1 2019

SS Khedive Ismail
The SS Khedive Ismail was a passenger ship commandeered as a troop carrier in WW2 and on 4 February 1944 set sail from Mombasa, Kenya for Colombo, (now Sri Lanka) as part of Convoy KR8. On board were 1,511 personnel. On 12 February 1944 the ship was hit by two Japanese torpedoes and sank in less than three minutes with the loss of 1,297 lives. This included 77 women (the single worst loss of female service personnel in the history of the British Commonwealth). Among the casualties were 51 members of the East African Military Nursing Service and Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service and its Reserve and their Matron, with only three survivors; also 17 Wrens perished with only two survivors. Three RAMC soldiers died as well as eight members of the Women’s Transport Service (First Aid Nursing Yeomanry). An ex-Wren, married to a Royal Navy Commander, died with their five-month-old son and her husband also lost his life. The loss of the SS Khedive Ismail was the third greatest mercantile shipping loss in WW2. The nurses were being sent to staff 150th General Hospital in readiness to receive the expected inrush of casualties from the Burma campaign.
The two torpedoes hit the engine room and the boiler room. The ship quickly split in two with little time to evacuate. The accounts from survivors make for harrowing reading. Some survivors swimming in the sea were killed following the dropping of depth charges to rout out the Japanese submarine which had strategically positioned itself under the swimmers.
On the 50th anniversary of the sinking, the Pascal Candlestick was presented to St Mary Le Strand Church in memory of the 17 Wrens who perished. This year, the 75th anniversary, a service of remembrance was held in the church, and the Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps was asked to join the service.
Following an Act of Remembrance, wreaths were laid at the Pascal Candle by Janet Crabtree, Vice President Association of Wrens, Colonel Jane Davis, Colonel Commandant of the QARANC, and Glyn Hiscock, whose late father witnessed the sinking and was present at the dedication service 25 years ago. Also representing the QARANC were retired QARANC
Colonel Jane Davis (L) and Lieutenant Colonel Lesley Wright (R) lay a QARANC wreath at the Remembrance Service commemorating the 75th anniversary of the loss of SS Khedive Ismail at St Mary Le Strand Church
members Lieutenant Colonel Lesley Wright and Terri Pitts. There is also a memorial to the QAIMNS nurses at
Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey.
To find out more please refer to:
Crabb, Brian James, Passage to Destiny. The sinking of the SS Khedive Ismail in the sea war against Japan. (Stamford: Paul Watkins 1988.) Republished in 2015 with new information.
Crabb, Brian James, Beyond the Call of Duty. The loss of British Commonwealth mercantile and service women at sea during the Second World War. (Donnington: Shaun Tyas 2006) Chapter Xlll, Passage to Destiny.
Brian Crabb is the son of a survivor.
http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Ships/SSKhediveIsmail. html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/70/ a3272870.shtml
THE GAZETTE QARANC 33
75th anniversary of the sinking of the
Colonel Jane Davis Colonel Commandant
Brookwood 1939-1945 Memorial to Armed Forces which commemorates those who have no known grave