HMS Lucia was a steamship that was launched in England in 1907 as the passenger and cargo ship Spreewald for Hamburg America Line (HAPAG)'s Caribbean services.

Elder Dempster Lines managed her until 1916, when she was converted into the submarine depôt ship HMS Lucia.

In the Second World War she served in the Indian Ocean, and in 1942 she was damaged in a Japanese air attack in Ceylon.

She had a single screw, driven by a three-cylinder triple-expansion steam engine built by Richardsons Westgarth & Company.

[9] On 9 August 1913 Spreewald reached New Orleans carrying passengers from Tampico including 38 US refugees from the Mexican Revolution.

[13][14] On 29 July she left Saint Croix, also in the Danish West Indies, bound for Puerto Rico, Santo Domingo and Haiti.

[17] At 15:37 hrs on the afternoon of 10 September, at position 10°39′N 56°50.5′W / 10.650°N 56.8417°W / 10.650; -56.8417 in the North Atlantic, the armoured cruiser HMS Berwick intercepted the New York and Porto Rico SS Co steamship Lorenzo, which HAPAG had chartered.

Spreewald raised the ensign of the Imperial German Navy Naval Reserve, and Berwick closed on her.

Berwick escorted Lorenzo and Spreewald to Saint Lucia in the British West Indies.

On 12 September the three ships reached Castries, where Berwick disembarked Spreewald's master as a prisoner of war.

[19] The UK Admiralty assumed ownership of Spreewald, and renamed her Lucia after the island to which Berwick escorted her.

In 1915 the Admiralty registered her in London as a merchant ship, with the UK official number 136789 and code letters JKFV.

[32] On 4 January 1931, 30 members of Lucia's complement refused orders because bad weather and a forthcoming exercise had prevented them from being offered weekend leave.

[38] On 5 April 1942, 70 dive bombers from Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carriers attacked Colombo.