Saturday marks the 100th anniversary of 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 successfully sank 11 British and Norwegian ships during the conflict.
After being hit, the 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 Dundee was built in the city’s once-proud 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 with a party 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 was noted.
It read: “The raider (Leopard) appears to have had a heavy torpedo armament, and evidently hoped, by manoeuvring during chase and boarding, to torpedo both Achilles and Dundee.
“This was prevented by the skillful handling of both ships.
“The Commanding Officer of Dundee displayed excellent judgement in manoeuvring his ship in such a way that he was able to pour in a hot fire for five or six minutes at a range of 1,000 yards before the raider could bring a gun to bear.”
James Lavery’s grandson, Peter Lavery, said his grandfather’s death, although rarely talked about, would have had a profound affect 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 8 children in Dundee after the war was over but she never talked about my grandfather.”
