HMAS Grantala was a passenger steamship constructed in England in 1903 by Sir W.G. Armstrong, Whitworth & Co at their Low Walker shipyard on the River Tyne. The vessel measured a length of 350 feet (106.7 meters), with a beam of 45.2 feet (13.8 meters) and a depth of 27.2 feet (8.3 meters). She had a gross register tonnage of 3,655 GRT and a net tonnage of 1,787 NRT. Propelled by a single screw driven by a three-cylinder triple expansion engine built by Wallsend Slipway Company, Grantala was rated at 690 NHP and achieved a speed of 16 knots during sea trials on 31 December 1903. Her passenger accommodations included space for 110 first-class and 180 second-class travelers. Launched on 28 May 1903 and completed in December of the same year, Grantala was initially registered with the Adelaide Steamship Company at Port Adelaide, bearing UK official number 118370 and the code letters VMHP. She embarked on her delivery voyage from Southampton on 21 January 1904, sailing via Cape Town and Durban to reach Fremantle on 29 February, before continuing to Sydney, arriving on 10 March with approximately 200 passengers from England and South Africa. Subsequently, she operated on the Adelaide Steamship Co’s route between Sydney and Fremantle, and seasonally alternated her route between Melbourne–Cooktown and Sydney–Fremantle from 1908 until 1914. By 1911, Grantala was equipped with wireless telegraphy, with the call sign VHJ. With the outbreak of World War I, the Royal Australian Navy requisitioned Grantala on 4 August 1914, converting her into a hospital ship capable of carrying up to 300 patients along with 59 medical staff. She was Australia's sole hospital ship during the war and participated in the Rabaul landings in German New Guinea in 1914, earning the battle honor "Rabaul 1914." However, due to her limited size, she was returned to her owners in December 1914. In November 1915, the vessel was sold to the Red Funnel Shipping Co, a UK subsidiary of the French Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT), and renamed Figuig in 1917. Under CGT management, she operated across the Mediterranean between Marseille and Algiers. Figuig was eventually scrapped in Genoa, Italy, in the second quarter of 1934, marking the end of her maritime service.

This description has been generated using GPT-4.1-NANO based on the Vessel's wikidata information and then modified by ShipIndex.org staff.