GALLIA
One of the four ships that Sud-Atlantique ordered built in 1911 as part of its initial fleet, the Gallia measured 14,966 tons and 182.9 meters in length, and could take 300 passengers in first class, 106 in second, 80 in third, and 600 emigrants as well. She was launched on March 26, 1913, and on the following November 29 weighed anchor in Bordeaux and set out on her maiden voyage, heading for ports in Brazil and the River Plate. With the outbreak of war in August 1914, the French Navy requisitioned her to serve as an armed merchant cruiser, and shortly thereafter as a troopship. On October 4, 1916, while sailing near the island of Sardinia, a torpedo fired by the German submarine U-35 fatally struck her. The sinking of the Gallia claimed 600 lives.