There have been five British Royal Fleet Auxiliary hospital ships named RFA Maine.
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RFA Maine in Lazaretto Creek, Malta. Behind are probably the depot ships Leander (ex cruiser) and Tyne, which are dressed with German Ensigns probably in honour of the Kaiser during his visit in 1904. Mike Day Collecton.
• RFA Maine (1887), Built as the cargo ship Swansea in West Hartlepool in 1887. GRT 2816. 315 x 40 x 20 feet. Single screw triple expansion. Loaned as hospital ship for the Boer War but actually went to China for the Boxer Rebellion. At the end of the war in 1901 she was presented to the Admiralty as its first permanent hospital ship. Designated as RFA (the first) in 1905. Wrecked off Mull 1914. |
• RFA Maine (1905), was purchased in 1913, and named RFA Mediator. Renamed in 1914 after the loss of the first RFA Maine, the ship was sold back to her previous owners in 1916.
4,688 tons gross (originally). Dimensions: 390x53x27 feet. Built and engined by D & W Henderson & Co Ltd in 1906 at Glasgow, for Harris & Dixon & Co Ltd as the Heliopolis, acquired by the Admiralty in 1913 for conversion at Pembroke Dock to the hospital ship Mediator. On the loss of the former ship, she was re-christened Maine. (Sigwart)
7 March 1916. Maine.(ex Heliopolis). Conversion into hospital ship not completed. Considered by some to be totally unsuitable for this conversion. Sold by auction as lying at Pembroke Dock to Harris & Dixon Ltd. Reverted to original name. Estimated that total public expenditure on this ship exceeded £120,000. (Adams/Smith).
Later names - Methven, Borden, Perseus. Scrapped Genoa 1932.
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| RFA Maine passing Tigne, Malta in the 1920s. |
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| RFA Maine in Korea. |
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| Laid down at Barclay Curle 1952. Cancelled. HMY Britannia was built instead. |
