The 430' long passenger cargo ship Simla had a career on at least two wars. She was built at Caird & Company in Greenock, Scotland in 1894 for the Peninsular & Oriental line and was fitted not only for commercial service, but for use as a military transport as well. Her route was the U.K. to India, but only two years into her career she was called up for trooping duties in India. She saw further trooping duties in the Boer War and was involved in famine relief following that. In the early 20th Century she resumed commercial service.

August 1914 changed the world and Simla was still in service. I don't know if she was involved in military service at first, but by 1916 she was again being employed as a transport. On April 2, 1916 at about 1300 hrs. she was 45 miles Northwest of Gozo Island, Malta when she was hit on the post side by a single torpedo fired by Kapitänleutnant Walter Forstmann in SMS U-39. The torpedo came without warning and immediately put the engines out of commission and killed ten men (some sources state eleven).

There were no additional torpedoes fired and the 150 survivors took to the lifeboats without further molestation from the submarine. Forstmann surfaced about 1430 hrs. and fired seven shells into the ship sending her to the bottom. The survivors were lucky as they were found by a French patrol boat and picked up at about 1700 hrs. and landed at Malta.