page_title: MV Georgic (1931)
section_title: Bombing
hierarchical_section_title: MV Georgic (1931) / Wartime career / Bombing
caption_attribution_description: English: MV Georgic ablaze, as seen from the deck of HMAS Hobart, Port Tewfik, Egypt.
context_page_description: Built at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, the MV Georgic was the last ship built for the White Star Line before its merger with the Cunard Line. She was the running mate of Britannic. Like Britannic, Georgic was a motorship, and not a steamer, fitted with a diesel powerplant. At the time of her launch in 1931, she was the largest British motorship.
  After a successful career as a Liner in the 1930s, Georgic was pressed into service as a troopship in 1940. She was severely damaged and sunk in 1941 by a German bombing raid whilst docked at Port Tewfik in Egypt. After being refloated and extensively rebuilt, she returned to service as a troopship in 1944, and continued in service for both for military and civilian uses until 1956, when she was withdrawn from service and scrapped.
context_section_description: On 22 May 1941, Georgic left Glasgow under the command of Captain A.G. Greig with the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division bound for Port Tewfik in the Gulf of Suez via the Cape. She was part of a convoy which had to be left almost unprotected due the hunt for the German battleship Bismarck, but arrived safely on 7 July and the troops on board were disembarked. One week later on 14 July 1941, while she was anchored off Port Tewfik waiting to embark 800 Italian detainees, German aircraft, sweeping the waterway for targets, spotted her and proceeded to attack. After several misses, the ship was hit by two bombs; the first one glanced off the side and exploded in the water, causing considerable damage to the ship's hull near the No.4 hold, causing heavy flooding, the second one hit the aft end of the boat deck, penetrated five decks, and exploded in a lift shaft, causing extensive damage to the No.5 hold, this started a fire which ignited fuel oil from ruptured fuel tanks; the fire ignited ammunition stored in the aft holds causing an explosion, which engulfed the entire rear end of the ship in flames. Despite the heavy damage, the ship's engineers were still able to start the engines, and Captain Greig was able to manoeuvre the blazing ship onto a reef in the middle of Suez Bay in order to beach it, so it wouldn't block the busy channel, while doing this Georgic collided with another ship, HMS Glenearn, which resulted in Georgic's stem being badly twisted. By this stage the flames had spread to the upper decks. As she started to sink, the order was soon given to abandon ship, and all on board managed to escape via the lifeboats. The Georgic slowly settled by the stern onto the shallow reef and was left to burn out over the next two days, by which time the ship was half submerged, the engine room flooded, and the superstructure, gutted by the fire, was a blackened, twisted shell.
caption: MV Georgic burnt out.
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