Troopships Tuscania & Otranto remembered on Islay

International commemorations will be held on the Scottish island of Islay on May 4 to remember those who died on HMS Tuscania and HMS Otranto in 1918.

Almost 700 lives were lost in the sinking of the troopships in separate incidents. Many of the dead were American soldiers on their way to the Western Front.

Tuscania was torpedoed by a German U-boat in the North Channel, midway between Islay and Northern Ireland, on 5 February 1918.

Eight months later, Otranto was wrecked off Islay after colliding with another troopship in a storm on October 6.

For more details of this year’s remembrance events, part of Scotland’s First World War Centenary programme, see IslayWW100