page_title: HMS Ben-my-Chree
section_title: Loss
hierarchical_section_title: HMS Ben-my-Chree / Royal Navy modifications and service / Loss
caption_attribution_description: English: HMS Ben-my-Chree (ship) half-submerged and sinking.
context_page_description: HMS Ben-my-Chree was a packet steamer and a Royal Navy seaplane carrier of the First World War. She was originally built in 1907 by Vickers for the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company and was intended for use on the England–Isle of Man route. She was the third vessel to bear her name. To this day Ben-my-Chree holds the crossing speed record from Liverpool to Douglas for a steamship at under three hours.
  She was chartered by the RN at the beginning of 1915 and participated in several abortive attacks on Germany in May. The ship was transferred to the Dardanelles in June to support the Gallipoli Campaign. One of her aircraft made the first ship-launched aerial torpedo attack on a ship in August. After Gallipoli was evacuated at the end of the year, Ben-my-Chree became flagship of the East Indies and Egypt Seaplane Squadron that operated in the Eastern Mediterranean, performing reconnaissance missions and attacking Turkish facilities and troops. She was sunk by Turkish artillery while anchored at the recently occupied island of Kastellorizo in early 1917, five members of her crew being injured. The ship was salvaged in 1920 and broken up in 1923.
context_section_description: French troops occupied the Greek island of Kastellorizo, off the southwest coast of Turkey, on 20 December 1916 to use it as an advance base against the Turks. Not pleased at the presence of the French, the Turks secretly deployed an artillery battery of four 155-millimetre (6.1 in) and twelve 77-millimetre (3.0 in) guns within range of the island. The French commander requested a seaplane carrier to conduct reconnaissance in the area and Ben-my-Chree was sent in response. She arrived on 11 January 1917 and anchored in the harbour which faced the mainland. The Turkish guns opened fire about two hours later, hitting the carrier with their third shot. Subsequent shells disabled her steering and started a fire in her hangar that spread across her upper deck. (See Mustafa Ertuğrul Aker)
  The crew was ordered to abandon ship after about forty minutes of the bombardment using the only remaining operable motor lifeboat of the three stowed on board. One officer and four enlisted men were injured, but no one was killed. The Turks continued their bombardment for five hours until Ben-my-Chree listed to starboard and sank in shallow water. Later in the day, the captain and the chief engineer returned to the wreck to rescue the ship's mascots, a cat and dog which had both survived the attack.
  Ben-my-Chree's wreck remained in place until 1920 when it was refloated by the salvage ship Vallette and towed to the port of Piraeus. The ship proved to be a constructive total loss and was broken up in Venice, Italy in 1923.
  During her short career she operated Sopwith Type 860, Schneider, and Baby, as well as Short Type 830 and Type 184 floatplanes.
caption: HMS Ben-my-Chree sinking
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