Lancastria disaster 85th anniversary

The worst loss of life in British maritime history has been marked at a ceremony in Clydebank.

This year sees the 85th anniversary of the HMT Lancastria disaster, when a liner, converted into a troopship and sent to rescue British civilians and service personnel from advancing enemy forces in Nazi-occupied France, was sunk by German bombers.

One of the guests was Fiona Symon, whose father lost in the disaster. She addressed the ceremony and spoke emotionally about what happened and the impact it had on her and other families.

It's estimated between 4,000 and 7,000 people were lost in the tragedy.

The ceremony took place at the Golden Jubilee Hospital, the site of the Beardmore ship building yard, where the vessel was launched in 1920.

The tragedy accounted for around a third of the deaths of the British Expeditionary Force at the start of World War Two.

Wreaths were laid at the ceremony, among them one from Dunbartonshire's Lord-Lieutenant, Mrs Jill Young MBE.

The ceremony was attended by victims' families, serving military personnel and military veterans.

The thousands of people who lost their lives when the RMS Lancastria was sunk in Britain's worst maritime disaster during World War Two, have been remembered at a special ceremony in Dumbarton, near the spot where the vessel was built and launched.

Dunbartonshire's Vice Lieutenant, Linda Moffat RD DL, attended a Service of Remembrance and laid a wreath at the memorial to the event at the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank.

The Lancastria was built in 1921 at the Beardmore Shipyard, now the site of the hospital, and named the RMS Tyrhennia. 

She was built as a cruise liner but in 1940 she was requisitioned by the government and sent to France to evacuate Allied personnel in the face of the advancing German Army.

She was sunk by German bombers on June 17th, off St Nazaire.

The vessel was designed to carry 2,200 passengers but because of the mission she was on, it's thought she may have been carrying more than three times that number.

The exact number of fatalities is not known but the sinking is regarded as the biggest loss of life in British maritime history.