AHS Centaur

The Centaur, 2/3rd Australian Hospital Ship, was a motor passenger ship converted in early 1943 for use as a hospital ship. In November 1941 it had rescued survivors of the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran after it had sunk and been sunk by HMAS Sydney.

On 12 May 1943, the Centaur sailed unescorted from Sydney carrying her crew and normal staff, as well as stores and equipment of the 2/12th Field Ambulance – but no patients. The ship was sunk without warning by a torpedo from a Japanese submarine on 14 May 1943 at 4am, about 50 miles east north-east of Brisbane.

Of the 332 persons on board, only 64 survived after spending 35 hours on rafts before being rescued.

The ship had been appropriately lit and marked to indicate that it was a hospital ship and its sinking was regarded as an atrocity. The Australian government delivered an official protest to Japan over the incident. The Japanese did not acknowledge responsibility for the incident for many years.

Read more about AHS Centaur
Read Sinking of the Centaur by Dr Karl James Senior Historian, Australian War Memorial (2008)
See collection items related to the Centaur

Download high resolution images of the Centaur