Rescue Ships

In the past two centuries of combat, ships and the brave men and women aboard them have played a major role in rescuing thousands of people--some injured, some in need of transport, and others fleeing for their lives. Board some of history's most remarkable rescue ships, from the USS Constellation, which hunted down illegal slave ships in 1860 to the most unlikely rescue ship of World War II, a tiny workboat called the Gerda III that saved hundreds of Danish Jews from Nazi terror. View stories of hospital ships and those who served on them, including the tragic story of the sinking of the Titanic's sister vessel, HMHS Britannic. Remember the sinking of the RMS Lancastria off the French port of St. Nazaire evacuating British nationals and troops from France two weeks after the Dunkirk evacuation, resulting in the largest single-ship loss of life in British maritime history with 3,000 to 5,800 fatalities.