SS Uganda ( 1952 ) SS " Uganda " was a passenger liner , then cruise ship , hospital ship and troop ship between 1952 and 1986 . Passenger liner . Initially " Uganda " operated as a passenger / cargo liner of the British - India Steam Navigation Company ( BI ) , between London and East Africa , calling at Gibraltar , Naples , Port Said , Aden , Mombasa , Dar - es - Salaam and Tanga , between 1952 and 1967 . The ship ' s original tonnage was 14 , 430 gross and she was fitted with two steam turbines developing 12 , 300 horse power . On trials her top speed was slightly over 19 knots . Cruise ship . When made redundant on the East Africa route , Uganda was converted to an educational cruise ship at Howaldtswerke - Deutsche Werft at Hamburg . Her passenger capacity leapt from 300 to 1200 and tonnage increased to 16 , 607 tons . In her new role she sailed her maiden voyage on 27 February 1968 and delighted school children , their teachers , passengers and crew for 14 years cruising mainly Scandinavia and the Mediterranean , together with her company consort until 1974 when " Nevasa " was withdrawn and scrapped - " Uganda " ( known as the " UgTug " in the crew bar ) ploughed on . By this time , the British - India Steam Navigation Company had been totally absorbed into the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company , but , uniquely within the P & O fleet , " Uganda " retained her BI livery . White hull with a black band , black funnel with two white bands . She deigned to wear the P & O house flag , but a walk through her public rooms and a visit to the bridge continued to remind one of the days of the British Raj , not least for her adult cabin passengers - who preferred her gentle cruising style to that of her more rowdy younger sisters like and - continuing to tap a foot to the gentle rhythms of the resident four - piece band . Falklands War Service . In 1982 the ship served as a hospital ship in the Falklands War with the call sign of " Mother Hen " . She was called up for military duty while on cruise 276 and discharged her 315 cabin passengers and 940 school children , who were on an educational cruise , in Naples . When the " Uganda " was docking in Naples , reporters turned up their microphones to hear a ship full of school children singing " Rule , Britannia ! " . " Uganda " had a three - day refit in Gibraltar where she had helicopter platform , fittings for replenishment at sea , satellite communications and her wards and operating theatres kitted out . Two additional water distillers were fitted on the sports deck . In accordance with the Geneva Convention the ship was painted white and eight red crosses were painted , two on each side of the hull , one facing forward on the bridge superstructure , one on the upper deck visible from the air , and one on either side of her funnel . A team of 135 medical staff , including 12 doctors , operating theatre staff and 40 members of the Queen Alexandra ' s Royal Naval Nursing Service , left Portsmouth to join the ship taking large quantities of medical supplies with them . Working closely with " Uganda " were the converted survey ships , and . " Uganda " sailed to and fro between " Red Cross Box 2 " – at position and Middle Bay , taking on casualties , both British and Argentine , transferring those who were well enough to the converted survey ships for passage to Montevideo . On the 28th of May the land battles started and Uganda anchored in Grantham Sound , 11 miles North West of Goose Green , where casualties from both sides arrived by helicopter and were treated . By the 31st May she had 132 casualties on board . " Uganda " co - ordinated the movements of the four British and three Argentine hospital ships , and and treated 730 casualties , 150 of them Argentine making four rendezvous with the Argentine ships . By 10 July her role as a hospital ship was over and the crew held a party for 92 Falkland children more in keeping with her peacetime role . On the 14th July , Uganda was deregistered as a hospital ship and the red crosses were painted out . Two days later she went back to Grantham Sound , to embark the Gurkha regiment and their equipment , before sailing for the UK on 18 July . She arrived at Southampton on the 9th August 1982 , 113 days after she had sailed to join the Task Force . During this time , she had sailed 26 , 150 miles , consuming 4 , 700 ton of fuel with over a 1 , 000 helicopter landings on her flight deck and 3 , 111 personnel had been transferred to or from the ship . After a refit in North Shields ( the games deck windows never did close properly again after having Sea King helicopters landing on the quoits court ) , the ship returned to the familiar relaxed pattern of educational cruising again , but only for a few months as in January 1983 she took the Queen ' s shilling a second time and returned to duty as a troop ship serving between Ascension Island and the Falkland Islands . Final voyage . Two years later , she was laid up , rusting , in the River Fal and despite efforts to keep her steaming was eventually sold for scrap . She was renamed SS " Triton " , taken on her final voyage to Taiwan ( no school children aboard this time – and a crew of only 21 ) where she anchored awaiting breaking . She was driven ashore by Typhoon Wayne on 22 August 1986 near Kaohsiung , Taiwan and there she lay until broken up in 1992 .