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AHS Centaur
Australian Hospital Ship (AHS) ''Centaur'' was a hospital ship which was attacked and sunk by a Japanese submarine off the coast of Queensland, Australia, on 14 May 1943. Of the 332 medical personnel and civilian crew aboard, 268 died, including 11 of the 12 nurses present.
The Scottish-built vessel was launched in 1924 as a combination passenger liner and refrigerated cargo ship and operated a trade route between Western Australia and Singapore via the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), carrying passengers, cargo, and livestock. At the start of World War II, ''Centaur'' (like all British Merchant Navy vessels) was placed under British Admiralty control, but after being fitted with defensive equipment, was allowed to continue normal operations. In November 1941, the ship rescued German survivors of the engagement between ''Kormoran'' and HMAS ''Sydney''. ''Centaur'' was relocated to Australia's east coast in October 1942, and used to transport materiel to New Guinea.
In January 1943, ''Centaur'' was handed over to the Australian military for conversion into a hospital ship, as the ship's small size made her suitable for operating in Maritime Southeast Asia. The refit (including installation of medical facilities and repainting with Red Cross markings) was completed in March, and the ship undertook a trial voyage: transporting wounded from Townsville to Brisbane, then from Port Moresby to Brisbane. After replenishing in Sydney, ''Centaur'' embarked the 2/12th Field Ambulance for transport to New Guinea, and sailed on 12 May. Before dawn on 14 May 1943, during her second voyage, ''Centaur'' was torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine off North Stradbroke Island, Queensland. The majority of the 332 aboard died in the attack; the 64 survivors were discovered 36 hours later. The incident resulted in public outrage as attacking a hospital ship is considered a war crime under the tenth 1907 Hague Convention. Protests were made by the Australian and British governments to Japan and efforts were made to discover the people responsible so they could be tried at a war crimes tribunal. In the 1970s the probable identity of the attacking submarine, ''I-177'', became public.
The reason for the attack is unknown, with theories that ''Centaur'' was in breach of the international conventions that should have protected her, that ''I-177''s commander was unaware that ''Centaur'' was a hospital ship, or that the submarine commander knowingly attacked a protected vessel. Claims of discovery were made in 1995, but that wreck was proven in 2003 to be another ship. The wreck of ''Centaur'' was found on 20 December 2009.
==Design and construction==
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
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