Career (United Kingdom)
Name:	SS Glitra
Owner:	Prince Steam Shipping Ltd. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located (1884-1895), Christian Salvesen (1895-1916)
Builder:	Swan Hunter, Newcastle upon Tyne
Launched:	1882
Christened:	Saxon Prince
Out of service:	20 October 1914
Renamed:	Glitra (1895)
Homeport:	Leith
Fate:	Captured by Unterseeboot U-17 and scuttled by captors. Year 1884 ( MDCCCLXXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year Year 1895 ( MDCCCXCV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Christian Salvesen is a Scottish -based European transport and logistics company with a long and varied history employing 13000 staff and operating in seven countries in the Year 1895 ( MDCCCXCV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Year 1916 ( MCMXVI) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year Swan Hunter, formerly known as " Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson " was one of the best known Shipbuilding companies in the United Kingdom. Newcastle upon Tyne ( (often shortened to Newcastle) is a city and Metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, England Year 1882 ( MDCCCLXXXII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Events 1740 - Maria Theresa takes the throne of Austria. France, Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony Year 1914 ( MCMXIV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Year 1895 ( MDCCCXCV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Formerly a municipal Burgh, Leith (Lìte is a district in the north of the city of Edinburgh at the mouth of the Water of Leith and is the port
Status:	Sunk
General characteristics
Tonnage:	866 Tons
Length:	215 feet (65. 53 m)
Beam:	30 feet (9. 14 m)
Draught:	6 feet (1. 83 m)
Speed:	9 knots (17 km/h)

SS Glitra was a steam ship that was the first British merchant vessel to be sunk in the First World War. The British Merchant Navy, known simply as the Merchant Navy is the maritime register of the United Kingdom, and describes the seagoing commercial interests World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All

History

SS Saxon Prince was the first ship built for Prince Steam Shipping Ltd. , otherwise known as "Prince Line". She was launched in 1882, and in 1884 entered service with Prince Line. She served for eleven years with Prince Line and was then sold to Christian Salvesen in 1895. Christian Salvesen is a Scottish -based European transport and logistics company with a long and varied history employing 13000 staff and operating in seven countries in the Year 1895 ( MDCCCXCV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Saxon Prince was renamed Glitra and served with Christian Salvesen for nineteen years. She was fated to be the first British merchant vessel sunk by Germany in the First World War. The German Empire is the name commonly used in English to describe Germany from 1871 to 1918 when it was a semi- Constitutional monarchy: beginning with the Unification ^[1]

Capture and sinking

Kapitänleutnant Johannes Feldkirchener

On 20 October 1914, Glitra was outbound from Grangemouth with a destination of Stavanger, Norway laden with coal, iron plate and oil when she was stopped and searched by the German U-boat U-17, under the command of Kapitänleutnant Johannes Feldkirchener. Events 1740 - Maria Theresa takes the throne of Austria. France, Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony Year 1914 ( MCMXIV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Grangemouth is a town and former Burgh in the council area of Falkirk, Scotland, and formerly in the County of Stirling. is a city and municipality in the county of Rogaland, Norway. Norway ( Norwegian: Norge ( Bokmål) or Noreg ( Nynorsk) officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Constitutional U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word, itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot ( undersea boat) and refers Captain Lieutenant or Captain-Lieutenant is a military rank In particular the term Captain Lieutenant may refer to a rank in the Russian Navy, The stop and search was done in accordance with the "prize rules" of war. The crew were ordered into the lifeboats, and once all were safely aboard the captors opened the sea valves and scuttled Glitra. Scuttling is the act of deliberately sinking a ship by allowing water to flow into the hull. ^[1]

As U-17 searched and scuttled Glitra the two vessels were being observed by the Royal Norwegian Navy 1. class torpedo boat HNoMS Hai on neutrality protection duties. The Royal Norwegian Navy (often abbreviated as RNoN) is the branch of the Norwegian Defence Force responsible for naval operations For other uses of Neutral and Neutrality see Neutral A neutral country takes no side in a War between other parties The Norwegians did not interfere with the incident itself, as it took place outside of Norwegian territorial waters, but after U-17 left the scene Hai took the British lifeboats under tow and brought the crewmen to the south western Norwegian port of Skudeneshavn. (also known as Skudeneshamn, Skudesnes or Skudenes, the name of the parish in which it is located is a city on the southernmost tip of the island of ^[2]

Thus Glitra became the first British merchant vessel to be lost to a German submarine^[3]

See also

Defensively Equipped Merchant Ships

External links

• Photo of U-17

References