HMS ''Niger'' was a

torpedo gunboat In late 19th-century naval terminology, torpedo gunboats were a form of gunboat armed with torpedoes and designed for hunting and destroying smaller torpedo boats. By the end of the 1890s torpedo gunboats were superseded by their more successful c ...

launched in 1892, converted to a

minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

in 1909, and sunk in 1914 by the German submarine near

Deal A deal, or deals may refer to: Places United States * Deal, New Jersey, a borough * Deal, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * Deal Lake, New Jersey Elsewhere * Deal Island (Tasmania), Australia * Deal, Kent, a town in England * Deal, ...

Early history

The ship was ordered from Naval Construction & Armament, Barrow, and

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

on 17 September 1891. She was launched on 17 December 1892 and commissioned on 25 April 1893. ''Niger'' was the

training ship A training ship is a ship used to train students as sailors. The term is mostly used to describe ships employed by navies to train future officers. Essentially there are two types: those used for training at sea and old hulks used to house class ...

for and tender to . In 1902 she had a major refit at the Palmers Shipbuilding Company, where she was fitted with new and larger engines, and with

Reed water tube boiler The Reed water tube boiler was a type of water tube boiler developed by J. W. Reed, manager of the engine works at Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company of Jarrow, England, where it was manufactured from 1893 to 1905. At this time, Palmer ...

s. On her completion she relieved as tender to ''Vernon''.

Sinking of HMS ''Niger''

On the morning of 11 November a

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare ro ...

attack occurred off

. Around noon there was an explosion and black smoke rose from HMS ''Niger''. ''Niger'' was at anchor about off the pier at Deal when she was torpedoed and sunk before noon on 11 November 1914 by the German submarine . ''Niger'' was the first ship sunk by U-boat commander

Walther Forstmann Walther Forstmann (9 March 1883 – 2 November 1973) was one of the most highly decorated U-boat commanders in the ''Kaiserliche Marine'' during World War I. He also served in the ''Kriegsmarine'' during World War II in different staff positions. ...

. Forstmann was one of the most successful commanders of the

Imperial German Navy The Imperial German Navy or the Imperial Navy () was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for coast defence. Kaise ...

in the First World War. She was also the first Allied ship to be sunk by German submarines based at the newly captured Belgian naval bases. Many who were tracking the fighting from onshore saw the explosion and the smoke. Even though there were high winds and huge waves, boats went to the sinking ship and were able to take the crew off. Some of ''Niger''s sailors were eating lunch when the torpedo hit and so were only lightly dressed. All officers, but only 77 men of ''Niger''s crew survived the sinking, four people were injured. Lieutenant-Commander Arthur Thomas Muir, who commanded the ship remained on the

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

until the rest of the crew had left. He suffered serious injuries in the explosion. The injured were taken to the nearby Royal Naval Hospital. When HMS ''Niger'' was attacked there were about 100 other ships nearby. One of these had a Dutch flag and was moored very close to ''Niger'' and then suspiciously disappeared after the attack. The British Admiralty suspected it to be a German

spy ship A spy ship or reconnaissance vessel is a dedicated ship intended to gather intelligence, usually by means of sophisticated electronic eavesdropping. In a wider sense, any ship intended to gather information could be considered a spy ship. Spy ...

. The commander of the naval squadron, that HMS ''Niger'' was a member of, was Geoffrey Spicer-Simson who would later become famous for commanding a small flotilla which defeated a superior German force during the

Battle for Lake Tanganyika The Battle for Lake Tanganyika was a series of naval engagements that took place between elements of the Royal Navy, ''Force Publique'' and the ''Kaiserliche Marine'' between December 1915 and July 1916, during the East African Campaign (World Wa ...

. At the time of the sinking of ''Niger'', Spicer-Simson was visiting his wife and some of her lady friends at a nearby hotel.

Notes and references

Notes

References

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Niger 1892 ships Alarm-class torpedo gunboats Ships built in Chatham Maritime incidents in November 1914 Ships sunk by German submarines in World War I Victorian-era gunboats of the United Kingdom World War I minesweepers of the United Kingdom World War I shipwrecks in the English Channel