[Moonlight]

Originally Posted by propbeanie

A hospital ship though, is a hospital ship. As such, skippers, no matter how good they were at their jobs, were court-martialed and punished, both for sinking neutrals and for sinking hospital ships. Case in point:

The Awa Maru 1945

The ship departed Singapore on March 28, but on April 1 was intercepted late at night in the Taiwan Strait by the American submarine USS Queenfish (SS-393), which mistook her for a destroyer. The Awa Maru was sailing as a hospital ship under the protection of the Red Cross, and under the agreed rules, she disclosed to the Allies the route she would take back to Japan. Her original route was promulgated through a minefield, an apparent ruse to draw attackers into the mined area. The area was known as mined, and would have been avoided at any rate. Her final route avoided the mines.

The torpedoes of the Queenfish sank the ship. Only one of the 2,004 passengers and crew, Kantora Shimoda, survived. He was the Captain's personal steward, and it was the third time in which he was the sole survivor of a torpedoed ship. The commanding officer of the Queenfish, Commander Charles Elliott Loughlin was ordered by Admiral Ernest King to an immediate general court-martial. As the Awa Maru sank "she was carrying a cargo of rubber, lead, tin, and sugar. Seventeen hundred merchant seamen and 80 first-class passengers, all survivors of ship sinkings, were being transported from Singapore to Japan.…[The] survivor said no Red Cross supplies were aboard, they having been previously unloaded."

Aftermath
Commander Loughlin was found guilty of negligence, and the U.S. Government offered, via neutral Switzerland to replace the Awa Maru with a similar ship. Japan demanded full indemnification.

On the very day of Japan's surrender, 14 August 1945, Foreign Minister Togo forwarded a message to the United States through Bern, Switzerland, demanding payment of 196,115,000 yen ($45 million) for the loss of 2,003 lives; 30,370,000 yen ($7.25 million) for the goods aboard the Awa Maru; and various other claims, for a total demand of 227,286,600 yen or approximately $52.5 million.…No gold bullion is mentioned in the message.

The Japanese bill was never paid, and in 1949 the matter was closed.

There are several sources for the story, including Silent Victory, with one story mentioning that Loughlin was immediately removed from service with the Executive Officer then assuming command of the boat. I do not find that in any "historical" stories of the incident, but maybe it did happen, I do not know.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliott_Loughlin

Technically NOT a hospital ship, it had been given free passage as such... A very interesting, unfortunate story. Lockwood did take blame for it also.

That above cannot be disputed Mr beanie, but if the Japanese had re-designated it as a military auxiliary ship and it was sunk by Commander Loughlin he wouldn't have been court martialled now would he.

The hospital ship should be designated as either a military ship or as a hospital ship you cannot have it both ways Mr beanie. Breaking International law whenever it suits you just to spice the game up is not the done thing now is it. That ship needs fixing for the next version and you need to keep your itchy little fingers off it.