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: | 650 |
| Launched: | 25 April 1910 |
| Completed: | June 1910 |
| Fate: | Scrapped, Pola, Italy, July 1933. |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type: | Steam |
| Tonnage: | 4143 |
| Length: | 365 feet |
| Beam: | 51 feet |
| Propulsion: | 2 x boilers, 1 shaft, reciprocating vertical triple expansion |
SS British Transport was a steel-hulled steamship of 4143 grt built in 1910 by Raylton Dixon at Middlesbrough . 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.. This was the first action in which a merchant ship had sunk a U-boat, for which Pope was awarded the DSO.
British Transport was scrapped at Pola, Italy, in 1933. [1] [2]