SS British Premier

The SS British Premier was a tanker built by Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company in 1922, registered in London and operated by the British Tanker Company.

History
Name:	SS British Premier
Operator:	British Tanker Co. Ltd., London
Builder:	Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company, Jarrow and Hebburn-on-Tyne[1]
Yard number:	925
Completed:	1922
Fate:	Sunk on 24 December 1940
General characteristics
Tonnage:	5,872 tons
Length:	400 ft 7 in (122.10 m) o/a
Beam:	53 ft 10 in (16.41 m)
Draught:	32 ft 9 in (9.98 m)
Propulsion:	2 steam turbines, single screw
Speed:	10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Capacity:	8000 tons of crude oil
Crew:	45

During the Second World War, she was used on convoy duties to bring oil from the Persian Gulf around the Cape of Good Hope and to the United Kingdom She was part of Convoy SLS-60 in late December 1940, but was straggling behind the main group when she came under attack by a German U-boat and was sunk with heavy loss of life.

Her final convoy was to have taken her from Abadan to Swansea, via Freetown, which she reached on 22 December. Two days later she was still straggling, when she was spotted by U-65, commanded by Hans-Gerrit von Stockhausen. At 16:41, U-65 torpedoed and sank British Premier. She went down with the loss of 32 of her crew, including her Master, Francis Dalziel, and a gunner. There were thirteen survivors, nine of whom were later picked up by the cruiser HMS Hawkins on 3 January 1941 and taken to Freetown. The remaining four were not picked up until 3 February, when they were rescued by the destroyer HMS Faulknor, having spent 41 days in an open boat, 25 of those days without any food.