SS British Transport

History
United kingdom
Name: British Transport (1910-1933)
Owner: Empire Transport Co. Ltd. (Houlder Bros & Co. Ltd.), West Hartlepool
Builder: Raylton Dixon, Middlesbrough
Yard number: 550[1]
Launched: 25 April 1910[2]
Completed: June 1910, trials 2 June 1919[3]
Fate: Scrapped, Pola, Italy, July 1933.
General characteristics
Class and type: Steam
Tonnage: 4,143 GRT[4]
Length: 364 feet 8 inches (111.15 m)[4]
Beam: 51 feet 1 inch (15.57 m)[4]
Draught: 26 feet 1 inch (7.95 m)[4]
Propulsion: 2 x boilers, 1 shaft, reciprocating vertical triple expansion[4]

SS British Transport was a steel-hulled steamship of 4,143 GRT launched 25 April 1910 by Raylton Dixon at Middlesbrough for Empire Transport Company, Ltd., London.[2]

On 11 September 1917 under the command of Capt. Alfred Thompson Pope (Lieut., R.N.R), British Transport was in the Bay of Biscay en route from Brest to Archangel with a cargo of munitions and other explosives when she was attacked by the surfaced U-boat SM U-49. After a five-hour gun battle lasting into darkness, U-49 fired two torpedoes at her but both missed. Betrayed by the phosphorescence in her wake, British Transport pursued and rammed the submarine, and then fired her deck gun to complete U-boat's destruction. U-49 sank at 46.17N 14.42W with the loss of all 43 hands.[5] This was the first action in which a merchant ship had sunk a U-boat, for which Pope was awarded the DSO.[6]

British Transport was scrapped at Pola, Italy, in 1933.[7] [8]

References

  1. ↑ Tees Built Ships (2018). "BRITISH TRANSPORT". Tees Built Ships. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  2. 1 2 "Launches and Trial Trips". International Marine Engineering & Naval Architect. Marine Engineering, Inc., New York—London. 32 (June): 437. 1910. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  3. ↑ "Launches and Trial Trips". International Marine Engineering & Naval Architect. Marine Engineering, Inc., New York—London. 33 (August): 30. 1910. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Lloyds. "Lloyd's Register 1930-31" (PDF). Lloyd's Register (through PlimsollShipData). Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  5. ↑ "WW I U-boats U-49". uboat.net. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  6. ↑ "ROYAL NAVY MEDALS - HONOURS & GALLANTRY AWARDS, Part 7 of 11 London Gazette editions 30460-30755 (January-June 1918)". World War 1 at Sea. 2014. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  7. ↑ Stevens, E. F., (1950). One hundred years of Houlders. Houlder Bros., London.
  8. ↑ Haws, D., (2000). Merchant Fleets in Profile. Volume 38. ISBN 0946378398


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