Previous name:                         Lauterfels

Official Number:                        136803                                                                         

Class:                                        Distilling Ship / Expeditionary Force Transport / Collier

Pennant No:                              Y4.24 / E 206 / Y3.1687

Laid down:                             
Builder:                                      Weser Actien Gesellschaft ‘Weser’ Bremen
Launched:                                 15 February 1913
Into Service:                              28 July 1915
Out of service:                           16 April 1918
Fate:                                          16 April 1918 torpedoed & sunk in the English Channel 

Items of historic interest involving this ship: –  

Background Data:  Some official lists, marked as  “Lists of RFA’s” show vessels which spent some time as RFA’s during the First World War. These records are extremely sketchy and some of these vessels were “Yard Craft”, partially or wholly Dockyard manned, partly by RNR or Reserve Fleet personnel. Some of the Depot Ships staffed by skilled civilian Dockyard workers were for a time White Ensign. The Director of Stores was understood to be concerned with their manning and operationally they remained under Admiralty control

15 February 1913 launched by Weser Actien Gesellschaft “Weser”, Bremen as Yard Nr: 192 named LAUTERFELS for Deutsche Dampschiffahrts-Gesellschaft Hansa, Bremen

27 March 1913 completed

21 April 1913 arrived at Port Said from Hamburg

5 November 1913 sailed Calcutta to New York

28 December 1913 sailed Boston to Calcutta

5 June 1914 arrived at Port Said from Hamburg while on passage to Karachi

1 August 1914 detained at Port Said by the British

22 January 1915 detention confirmed by the Prize Court at Alexandria  – allocated to the Admiralty. Renamed RFA HUNGERFORD under management of Grahams & Co, London

9 March 1915 register opened at London as Nr: 99/15 in the Register Book still named LAUTERFELS

19 June 1915 transfered to the Ministry of Shipping, London & renamed HUNGERFORD

28 July 1915 became an RFA distilling ship name unchanged. Management by Grahams & Co ceased

3 August 1915 Lieutenant Robert A Seabrook RNR appointed in command and Engineer Arthur John Trew RNR appointed as Chief Engineer Officer. Both officers had been in post prior to this date but were granted temporary commissions in the Royal Naval Reserve on the ship becoming an RFA

Lieutenant Robert A Seabrook RNR

16 September 1915, 17 September 1915 & 18 Sepetmber 1915 at Mudros Bay with a working party from the 1st Class Cruiser HMS EUROPA onboard

HMS EUROPA

20 September 1915 to 3 October 1915 at Mudros Bay with a working party from the 1st Class Cruiser HMS EUROPA onboard

5 October 1915 to 7 October 1915 at Mudros Bay with a working party from the 1st Class Cruiser HMS EUROPA onboard

10 October 1915 to 13 October 1915 at Mudros Bay with a working party from the 1st Class Cruiser HMS EUROPA onboard

4 November 1915 to 7 November 1915 at Mudros Bay with a working party from the 1st Class Cruiser HMS EUROPA onboard

9 November 1915 to 11 November 1915 at Mudros Bay with a working party from the 1st Class Cruiser HMS EUROPA onboard

14 November 1915 to 19 November 1915 at Mudros Bay with a working party from the 1st Class Cruiser HMS EUROPA onboard

22 November 1915 at Mudros Bay with a working party from the 1st Class Cruiser HMS EUROPA onboard

25 November 1915 at Mudros Bay with a working party from the 1st Class Cruiser HMS EUROPA onboard

29 December 1915 at Mudros Bay with a working party from the Light Cruiser HMS CHATHAM onboard

HMS CHATHAM

1 January 1916 pink list location shows her to be a Distilling Ship under the orders of the Vice Admiral, Eastern Mediterrean

21 January 1916 at Mudros Bay with a working party from the 1st Class Cruiser HMS EUROPA onboard

22 February 1916 distilling Ship service ended

28 February 1916 served as an Expeditionary Force Tranport and was commissioned until 31 July 1916

6 April 1916 Temporary Assistant Paymaster John Richard Ormerod RNR discharged dead. He is buried in Suez War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt (Grave Ref. C. 20) and had been appointed to the ship on 26 August 1915. He is also remembered on the War Memorial in Liverpool Masonic Hall (see image below – 3rd column)

Displayed with thanks to British War Graves

Liverpool Masonic Hall War Memorial – where he was a member – Temporary Assistant Paymaster John Richard Ormerod RNR is remembered in the 3rd column

 The above two images kindly donated by Geoff Cuthill

4 August 1916 carried Canadian stores until 16 January 1917

17 January 1917 re-deployed as a stores carrier carrying wheat from Australia until 21 June 1917

22 June 1917 re-deployed as a collier – name unchanged until 12 August 1917

24 August 1917 re-deployed as a transport carrying wheat from the United States until 16 November 1917

17 November 1917 re-deployed as a collier until 2 January 1918

16 December 1917 attacked with 2 torpedoes from a submarine in the Mediterranean but the torpedoes missed their target

1918 management transferred to George Heyn & Sons Ltd, Belfast name unchanged

3 January 1918 on French Government service as a transport carrying steel between the United Staties and France until …

16 April 1918 torpedoed by German submarine UC75 (Oberleutnant zur See Walter Schmitz) in the English Channel 9 miles SSE of the Owers Light Vessel while on passage, in ballast, from Le Havre to New York via St Helen’s Roads and sunk.

Greaser Percy Brown MMR, Fireman and Trimmer James Thomas Clark MMR, 2nd

Officer John McClure Dale RFA, Fireman Hitchins MMR, Greaser Thomas Jenkins

MMR, Leading Seaman Joseph Martin RNR, 3rd Engineer Officer Donald McVictor

McFarlane MMR and Junior 2nd Engineer Officer Alfred James Rice RFA all were

drowned. 2nd Officer Dale is buried in Clayhall Naval Cemetery (then known as the

Haslar Naval Cemetry), Gosport, Leading Seaman Martin RNR is remembered with

pride on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial. The others have no known grave but the sea

and are remembered with pride on the Tower Hill Memorial

2nd Officer John Dale’s grave in Clayhall Royal Naval Cemetery incorrectly showing he was 3rd Officer

2nd Officer John Dale is also remembered with pride on the 1914 – 1918

memorial in Cairncastle Presbyterian Church, Northern Ireland

31 May 1918 the German submarine UC75 was sunk by being rammed by HMS FAIRY at 53°57N 00°009E

Notes:

In July 1915 the Director of Transports made the decision that the crew would be engaged under a T 124 Agreement and thus the management contract was removed from Messrs Graham & Co and she then became an RFA and was employed primarily as a Distilling Ship but had available space for 4000t of stores in her holds and 2000t in her tween decks