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 and 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 [1]. 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.[2]. This was the first action in which a merchant ship had sunk a U-boat, for which Pope was awarded the DSO.[3]

British Transport was scrapped at Pola, Italy, in 1933.