SS Dundee went down in battle 100 years ago

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the attack which led to the sinking of the SS Dundee during a First World War battle.

The small steam ship was torpedoed by German U-boat UC49 on September 2 1917, 500 miles south-west of the Isles of Scilly.

The U-boat was commanded by Captain Karl Petri, who sank 11 British and Norwegian ships during the conflict.

After being hit, the SS Dundee spent a day adrift before sinking. Nine members of the crew were lost including merchant stoker James Lavery from Dundee, just three days after his son was born.

The SS Dundee was built at the city’s Caledon shipyard in 1911, serving as a vessel for the Dundee, Perth and London Shipping Company.

At the outbreak of hostilities in 1914, she was requisitioned by the Royal Navy and fitted for use as an armed boarding steamer.

She was not granted the suffix HMS – a normal handle for ships sailing under the Royal Naval flag – but played a vital role in the sinking of the German auxiliary cruiser SMS Leopard in March 1917.

Combining forces with the armoured cruiser HMS Achilles on Friday March 16 2017, the German ship had a crew of six men who all perished when the Leopard was sunk following a brief gun battle.

In despatches, the valour of the boarding party and the quick thinking of the commanding officer of the SS Dundee were noted.

James Lavery’s grandson, Peter Lavery, said his grandfather’s death, although rarely talked about, would have had a profound effect on his grandmother, who was left to tend for eight children.

He said: “We were never told much about my grandfather. My father obviously never knew him.

“I remember my grandmother. She was 81 when she passed away and she was left looking after eight children in Dundee after the war was over, but she never talked about my grandfather.”

The SS Dundee was built at the Caledon shipyard in the city.